


Something Stronger than Poison

by TheMangledSans0508



Series: Adventures in the World of Wonderbeasts [2]
Category: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Cartoon)
Genre: (is that a thing?), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Injury, Emotional Baggage, F/F, F/M, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Growing as People, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Racism, Implied/Referenced Transphobia, Injury, Injury Recovery, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mutual Pining, Pining, Romance, Serious Injuries, Some death, War, im begging, not any mains or minors just some unnamed mutes and humans, someone please help me with tagging, theres both human and mute specism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:48:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 44
Words: 50,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26130676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMangledSans0508/pseuds/TheMangledSans0508
Summary: Everything is coming to a head, the mutes against the humans. Kipo is struggling to keep grounded with the lives of both races on her shoulders. Wolf is trying to comprehend her feelings while learning how to fight without Stalky. Lio is looking for anything that can help Song turn back. Scarlemange is attempting to redeem himself and make amends. Benson is learning how to navigate his first relationship and balancing it with his friends. Dave is Dave.
Relationships: Benson/Troy (Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts), Cotton/Camille (Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts), Kipo Oak/Wolf, Lio Oak/Song Oak
Series: Adventures in the World of Wonderbeasts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1885729
Comments: 83
Kudos: 181





	1. Around the War Table

“So we have one group go above ground, Mom would go with that one and Benson you’d lead, and the other team led by Wolf would go through the tunnels to attack from the inside, that’s the stealth team,” Kipo explained, her hands tracing the lines on the map that was located in Yumyan’s tree.

“How do we know they’re still there? They might have moved because we know where they are. And they have that thing that plays that music that makes mutes immobile with pain, would it be a humans-only mission besides your mom?” Wolf questioned. 

“Yeah, somebody should check that before we make any more plans,” Benson agreed.

“I’ll scope it out, Emilia is dangerous and I don’t want any of you getting hurt.” Lio stood, grabbing for a satchel by the door.

“No! I’ll do it, I can go Jaguar if I have to,” Kipo asserted, grabbing her father’s arm.

“No, I’ll do it!”

“No, I’ll do it!”

“No, I’ll do it!”

“Stop it!” Wolf commanded. She looked over the hushed faces around the table. “I will do it.”

“No, Wolf, you-”

“I’m the smallest,” she continued “and the fastest, and the strongest, I’d have the best chance at getting away if I were caught.”

“That does make the most sense,” Molly said. The rest of the team nodded before Kipo could argue any more.

“Okay crew, we should turn in, it’s really late and we do need to sleep at least a tiny bit,” Roberto suggested. Everyone nodded in agreement, save for Kipo.

Once they got outside, the group split up, everyone going to their tree. The cats would climb to their quarters while the humans, Dave, and Mandu were located on ground level so they could easily access them.

The parties bid each other goodnight and Kipo matched her pace with Wolf. Wolf’s hands kept gripping nothing like she was holding something. 

“Wolf, you don’t have to volunteer for every risky mission,” she said. Wolf glared at her.

“I want to.”

“What happened to the girl who only cared about surviving?” Dave joked.

“Shut up, bug man.”

“Well, goodnight to all of you! Sleep well!” Roberto smiled. Lio waved back.

“Same to you guys too.”

The group split up again at a pair of adjacent. Roberto, Troy, Asher, and Dahlia headed to one tree while Kipo, Wolf, Benson, Dave, Mandu, and Lio went to the other. Lio idled outside, looking around and then putting his hand on Kipo’s shoulder.

“ Kipo, I’ll be back in a bit, I’m just gonna go see your mom.” Kipo smiled softly.

“You say that every night. Okay, goodnight dad, love you.” Lio kissed her forehead.

“Love you too, baby girl.”

Inside the tree was cozy, having been hastily scratched out once they arrived but still beautiful. There were three bedrooms and a small living room. The cats had even made a human bathroom for them. The three bedrooms were in a line, Benson and Dave had the room on the far left, Lio had the room in the center, and Wolf and Kipo had the room to the far right. Lio’s room hadn’t even been used once, as he elected to sleep outside on Song’s shoulder so he could be with her.

The living room was made up of a couch and table, not much else. The bathroom was simply a toilet, and the three bedrooms were nearly identical. The only difference that ranged between them was Lio’s room held a single bed instead of two like the other ones did. The rooms with twin beds had the beds across the room from each other against the wall and every bed had two blankets on them made by Shoelace. Kipo had pink blankets, Wolf had blue, Benson had soft green, and Dave had purple. Lio’s blankets were navy blue but had remained there despite him sleeping where he was exposed to the elements.

In their room, Kipo sat on top of her bed and looked over at Wolf, who had her back turned to her. She slept on top of the blankets, electing only to use her pelt to keep her warm. When Kipo had asked about it, she had just shrugged and said it was warmer. She had left before Kipo could point out she could wear the pelt and have the blankets cover her.

“Wolf, like I said earlier, I can take this mission.”

“No.” was what she got in response.

“Wolf, please, you're my best friend, I can’t lose you because you keep deciding to do these missions by yourself. At least let me come with you,” she pleaded. Wolf sat up, looking towards her with determined eyes.

“Kipo, you’re _my_ best friend. And _I_ can’t risk losing you. I’m the best choice for this and trust me, I’ll come back. I always do,” Wolf smiled weakly at her. Kipo couldn’t find it in herself to argue back any more. She sighed in defeat.

“C’mon Kipo, just get some sleep. You’re really stressed with all this,” Wolf said calmly. Kipo looked at her.

“Really? Cause I am cool as a cucumber. I’m totally not ready to curl up and ball and cry because of all this pressure,” Kipo laughed a broken laugh. Wolf fidgeted with her pelt.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked hesitantly. Kipo put her head in her hands and groaned.

“It’s just, everyone is relying on me, again, to stop a evil doctor from turning all mutes back into animals so humans can rule by themselves again! And I don’t even feel ready to turn back into the mega Jaguar! What if I change and get stuck? And if you guys aren’t there I can’t turn back, and if you are there I might hurt you! I might hurt a lot of people if I can’t control the Jaguar. So I’ll just stick with being a giant normal jaguar instead of a six-legged three-tailed one. But them I’m not as strong and we don’t even know if I can turn back from that and-”

“Kipo, remember our thing. In for four, out for eight, keep your cool, now you’re great.” Wolf did some exaggerated breaths for Kipo to copy, and then let her do some on her own. “I’ll be by your side every battle and every day, but someone needs to do these missions, and I’m the most qualified.”

“Just, please, be careful?” Kipo begged.

“I always am,” Wolf smirked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought up this story at one am Monday night (Tuesday morning?) I have no schedule besides hopefully two to three chapters a week and at least to finish before season three comes out. This story is focused on Wolf and Kipo, but I wanted to include everyone else too. I really hope I can finish this story in time and make it easy and enjoyable to read. Thank y'all for reading.


	2. The Battle of the Sunbathing Mound

“If you leave after we dine, then you can arrive at the crown of dusk so you’ll be harder to see,” Yumyan declared.

“We’ll give you an axe so you can defend yourself, one that’s lightweight so it doesn’t make it harder for you to move,” Molly collaborated.

“I really don’t need an axe, if I could just have a stick or something-”

“We’re under attack!” Ruffles burst in the room. Everyone turned to look at him.

“What? Who? Where?” Yumyan dug his claws into the table, his eyes narrowing into slits. 

“Humans! Near the sunbathing mound! They shot at us already, there’s no time to waste!”

“Yumyan owns you all!” Yumyan ran out, both his axes in his paws followed closely by Molly. Everyone paused for a moment before swiftly following. 

Kipo already had her paws out as she ran past the cell tower, only pausing when she heard a voice coming from the tower. She looked from the tree to her friends before going in for a quick look. Just for a short time, they wouldn’t miss her and they probably didn’t need her, they were all competent fighters.

The inside of the tower was empty, save for a staircase and a chair presumably for the guard to keep watch. She crept down the stairs, looking around for the source of the voice. There were three cells with the room with low torches by each one. In the corner of the cell sat Scarlemange, his head turned far enough to the side so he could see Kipo.

“Scarlemange?” He chuckled.

“Who else would you expect?” Kipo blinked a few times, trying to find the right words.

I thought you were in the cage,” she said. Scarlemange howled in laughter at Kipo’s shocked expression.

“Am I not in a cage? Do humans not consider these cells do be cages themself?” He bared his teeth in a grin. “I jest, I know what you are referring to, Kipo. The kennel is simply for transport.”

“Oh. I didn’t realize that” she mumbled. 

“Now, I couldn’t help but overhear that Emilia’s humans are attacking now, and well, Kipo, you’ve given me a lot to think about,” he sighed, turning away from her. “I want to offer my assistance, no strings attached. I understand if you don’t want to accept it, but I thought since I have the chance I’d put it out there.” 

Kipo hesitated, studying his face. Despite him not facing her, she could make out his remorseful expression. His eyes were clouded in a sadness she had only seen when her father would talk about her mother while they were underground or whenever Wolf mentioned or reminded of her previous pack. His lips curled downwards in a frown and his shoulders were hunched and his legs pulled up to his chest. The expression his face held could be faked, but the emotion in his eyes could not.

Still, she had to think rationally. She put her hand through the bars, which once Scarlemange observed, he took. She looked at him sadly.

“I’m sorry, Hugo.” His eyes widened at the name. “I believe you, but right now I’m the only one. You have to talk to dad. Once you two get everything figured out, I’ll convince Yumyan to let you out.” He tightened his grip on Kipo’s hand slightly, startling her and causing the fur that had receded to grow back. He looked in shock before he laughed weakly.

“You don’t trust me. You’re scared I’ll hurt you. My own baby sister is scared of me.” He smiled at her. “Do send Lio my way when you get the chance, will you? I want to prove myself.” He took his hand away and went back into the corner. “Now, go protect your friends and our family.” Kipo nodded. Before she jumped up the stairs, she paused one last time.

“You’re like me, there’s a part of you that’s out of your control. We’ll help you get in control of it, I promise.”

She bolted out of the tree, the fur on her legs allowing her to run fast enough to still be able to help in the fight. When she finally arrived, she saw a band of around twenty humans, ten fighting their own men and ten attacking her mother, who seemed to be barely affected by their crossbows and swords. Song had picked up a few and just holding them to keep them out of the way without hurting them.

While there were a lot of cats were around them they were keeping their distance presumably on Yumyan’s orders. He and Molly fought back-to-back against two humans, their axes moving so fast they were just a blur. Benson was having what looked to be a blast getting into a fistfight with a muscular man who seemed to like wearing the plague doctor’s mask even in a fight. Troy jumped from battle to battle, looking for whoever needed the most help from him. Dahlia wielded her axe like she was a Timbercat, locked in an even scuffle with a man her height who she was speaking to with venom in her voice. Asher looked to be having fun, them and Dave working together so they could throw him into the fray. Lio and Roberto had three men between them they were keeping away from Song. Wolf had three people she was dealing with, all at least twice her height. She had a stick about the length Stalky had been, having most likely cut it while they ran.

During the brief second Kipo was observing the scene Dave flew past her, and she whipped her head around to watch him tackle a woman who was a few feet behind her with her sword poised and ready. 

“Herbs in,” she mumbled and her paws, the fur on her legs, and her ears came out, and she jumped in, grabbing a human from both Wolf and her dad, throwing them across the hilltop. One of them had a crossbow, and the other a sword. While she was running at them she had no problem dodging the bolts shot her direction. She retracted her claws so she wouldn’t leave any cuts from but just so she could bat them around. She dived out of the way for an arrow and had to quickly roll to avoid a sword aimed at her head.

She swatted her sword-wielded opponent off her feet and charged at the crossbow armed man, kicking his weapon out of his hand. She racked her brain to see if she recognized him from her burrow. Coming to the conclusion she didn’t, she smiled and offered her hand.

“You probably already know who I am, but just in case, my name is Kipo. We’re not going to hurt you, we want to tell you the truth, what Dr Emilia isn’t telling you.” The man looked at her in fear before turning and running, causing Kipo to let out an irritated huff. “I guess you don’t want to hear it.” Her ears twitched slightly and she heard footsteps she had initially mistaken as the man running away continuing to come closer.

She jumped to the side a second too late, the sword cutting her calf. Not too deep to make her unable to walk, but more than enough to make roar.

The entire field froze, everyone turned to look at her. Somebody whistled, and the members of the human resistance fled. Wolf was the first by her side, kneeling down next to her. 

“What happened,” she asked. Kipo’s hands that had subconsciously grabbed her leg as soon as the threat was gone moved so she could see.

“I got cut. It’s fine.” She smiled to prove it but Wolf was already closely inspecting it. It was messy, blood already coating her leg and staining the ground. Wolf was already grabbing her shirt with the intent to rip it when Lio came over and picked Kipo up.

“Looks like it’ll need stitches, I’ll sow it up once we get inside.”

Wolf easily kept up with Lio’s long strides, staying right next to them as they walked. Everyone else fell in a row behind them, save for Molly and Yumyan, who took the front.

“Our doctor is in a tree right next to our scratching tree, I’ll lead the way.”

“ _We’ll_ lead you to it,” Molly corrected.

Inside the tree, Most looked away as Lio stitched Kipo’s leg. Wolf kept her focus on Kipo, talking to her until Dave tapped her.

“Don’t you have something to do right now?” Wolf shook her head.

“Not anymore.” She looked at Kipo regretfully. “If I had been paying better attention this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Wolf, you were fighting two people at once, three before I took one! And you were holding your own I had to help!”

“It got you hurt.”Kipo reached over and grabbed her hand. Wolf looked away.

“I’m okay, I swear.”

“But you’re not,” she argued. “I’m gonna go. I have to make sure this doesn't happen again.” Kipo squeezed her hand.

“Please be safe,” she begged. 

“I will. I’ll be back in two days at most.” Kipo watched her walk out and looked at Benson.

“She’ll be fine Kipo, she’s a survivor,” he assured her.

“I hope you’re right,” she sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I tried making a Sims 4 model of some of the major buildings and I kind of lost my inspiration for that and any spelling errors in this chapter are because I'm using a laptop that's from when I was ten and I was not the best at taking care of things then. I'll get my laptop back soon but for now, spelling errors are probably likely.


	3. Down with Mutes

Wolf had no problem backtracking to the Human Resistance. Living on the surface had its perks, after all, tracking was a major skill of hers and she was proud of it. She actually enjoyed it, having to focus solely on her memory and any prints she could find that led her to her prey or destination. Sparse footprints in the first, a bolt that fell from a quiver, a torn piece of cloth, anything that was a sign of a human being there.

She jumped from branch to branch, it was safer than travelling on the ground. She finally spotted the hidden building, dropping down quietly and creeping behind a bush, she waited until night came fully. When the moon provided the only light, she slipped inside.

It seemed a majority of people had already gone to sleep since she only heard a few voices that were all coming from the same area. She clenched her left hand on instinct, missing the feeling of Stalky in her grip. Ducking behind some boxes, her eyes fixated on a faint light coming from a room in the back she had next gone into. She checked around her before running to the doorframe, looking for any sort of cover she could find. 

Finding none, she stayed put, her eyes keeping watch for anybody while her ears listened.

“-and that is when I made the call. I didn’t want anybody getting killed when that creature transformed,” she heard a woman say.

“That roar was the scariest thing I’ve ever heard,” someone else collaborated.

“Did anyone see her transform?” Emilia asked. The room fell silent. “I asked if anyone saw her transform.”

“No, but her arms-”

“I’m aware her arms were paws. That’s a half-transformation, something she can control.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means if she didn’t go fully mute, she’s starting to have more control over her transformations. She’s still a threat, she’s part mute.”

“What can we do about her? A human Kipo is no threat, but nobody understands what a mute Kipo could do. Maybe she isn’t even a threat. Maybe she is more dangerous than Scarlemange.” She identified the speaker as Hoag, and while she hated that guy at least he was saying Kipo might not be a threat.

“A mute with a human mind is dangerous, the only thing that can neutralize the threat is to kill her while she is in her human form.”

“What about her friends, the humans and those cats?”

“Kill them too if they get in the way.” The sound of her boots as she walked echoed around the building, Wolf shrinking back into her pelt. “After we get rid of the abomination, we can start thinning the mutes.”

“What do you mean, ‘thinning?’” another man asked.

“Mutes with intelligence will never be okay to give it up. They will fight tooth and nail to keep it. We only have one option for them, too.” She paused for a moment, the suspense from the room reaching out of it to wrap Wolf in it too. “We have to eradicate them.”

“What? Why?”

“Thinking mutes are dangerous and deadly. We can’t turn them back into normal animals. They won’t let us. Our only option is to hunt every one of them down.”

“But-”

“If you want the best for humanity you’ll stand with me,” she growled. 

Wolf had heard enough, she turned and ran out of the building, jumping up into a tree and making her way home.


	4. Worry

“Benson, do you think she’s okay?” Kipo asked, looking into the distance.

“She was on her own for years, I think she’s fine. She knows what she’s doing,” Benson reassured her.

They sat outside their tree, looking at the scattered beams of sunlight lighting up the ground as the sun rose high in the sky. Her leg stung slightly whenever she walked, but it was stitched and as long as she wasn’t reckless it would be fine. Without any more information until Wolf came back, and everyone on edge from the attack, they were given a break to not be around the war table. Kipo couldn’t help but worry about Wolf, since she was used to being next to her almost all the time. She wanted to talk about anything to distract herself. She tapped her fingers and then her eyes lit up when she thought of something.

“Hey Benson,” she flashed a wicked grin. “How are you and Troy doing?”

“W- How would I know? I don’t know.”

“Aren’t you dating?” Kipo asked, leaning back against the tree.

“Are we? I don’t know how dating works! This is the first time I’ve had someone like me back! Do we have to go on a date first? Do we have to actually kiss first? Do we have to have-”

“Guys!” Wolf came running towards them, her legs moving so fast they were a blur. 

“Wolf!” Kipo jumped up and ran towards her, Benson in tow. “Are you okay? Did they see you?”

“Yes, no, and this is worse than we thought! Go get everyone, this is  _ really _ bad.” They both nodded in unison and split up, leaving Wolf alone.

Wolf walked to Yumyan’s tower, sitting on the floor while she waited for the rest to arrive.

Emilia wasn’t going to succeed in her plans, they couldn’t let her. Killing the Timbercats? The racoons? Her and her friends if they got in the way? Killing Kipo? She wouldn’t let that happen. That was out of the question.

“What did you discover?” Yumyan bellowed. Wolf waited for everyone to gather around before speaking.

“Emilia’s plan is worse than we thought. She wants to kill all speaking mutes.”

“What? No, no, she wanted to turn them into animals,” Lio said in disbelief. Wolf shook her head.

“She wants to turn back mutes like Mandu and Pierre. Mutes like you Timbercats, the Umlat Snakes, the Mod Frogs, and so on, she’s decided that you need to die. She said that you can’t be turned back because you won’t let it happen. And Kipo,” she took a shaky breath. “She said that you were unpredictable, a threat and that you needed to be killed.” 

The room was quiet for a few seconds. Wolf refused to look up from the table. Nobody knew what to say. Kipo stood in shock, unable to find words to speak at all. Yumyan and Molly had unreadable expressions, but their eyes were cold. Lio looked as shocked as Kipo did, but unlike Kipo his eyes were full of anger.

“The Helix Burrow had a set goal, and our goal was to revert mutes to animals. Hugo was what made Song and I realize what we were doing was wrong. Hugo was also made Emilia become so power-hungry. Thirteen years later I think she’s forgotten what our goal was in the first place. She sees mutes as a threat. And she wants to be in charge of everything. If you thought Scarlemange was bad, Emilia would be ten times worse on top.” 

“I’m not a threat,” Kipo whispered. “I would never hurt anybody.” Lio pulled her into a hug.

“We know, Kipo. So does anyone who has ever met you. Emilia is using fearmongering to make humans follow her, and then using force on anyone who disobeys her just like she did to your mom.” Kipo shook her head and frowned with determined eyes.

“We have to warn everyone,” she said. “We need to split into pairs. Me and Wolf can go to the Umlat Snakes and then I can go to the Newton Wolves.”

“We can go to the Newton Wolves,” Wolf mumbled.

“Dave, Benson, you guys can go to the Racoons and Scooter Skunks. Afterwards, we’ll meet back up and go to the Hummingbombers and Mod Frogs.”

“I can go to those two. I made this mess so I have to fix it,” Lio said grimly.

“If the dad-io is going, I’ll go with him so that he has someone who knows his way. I’ve been on the topside for over two-hundred years so he’ll be safe with me.” Dave patted his chest a few times.

“If you’re going with Mr Oak, I’ll go with Benson. I want to see the surface a bit more and the buddy system doesn’t work if someone goes by themself.” Kipo nodded.

“So, tomorrow morning we go,” Kipo declared. Yumyan bared his fangs in a grin.

“Kipo, summoner of the Mega-Jaguar, taking charge as a general. I’m like a proud sire.”

“I think I’m the proud father,” Lio said.

“Well, I have taken these humans under my paw. So, I am. Anyways, council dismissed!” Yumyan slammed his fist on the table. 

Kipo seemed dejected, her eyes dim and a frown on her face. Wolf matched her pace as they walked.

“Kipo…”

“I don’t understand, Wolf. I’m not dangerous,” she sighed. Wolf placed a hand on her arm.

“I know. But it’s like your dad said. She wants control over everyone.” Kipo shook her head.

“You know, you don’t have to come with me to the Newton Wolves. I know that stresses you out.” Wolf shrugged.

“Like Troy said, the buddy system doesn’t work when someone goes by themself.” Wolf smiled kindly. Kipo weakly returned it and then looked in front of them.

“Benson!” she called. Benson turned and waved.

“Hey, Kipo! How are you doing with all this new information?” he asked.

“It’s… It’s a lot. But I can handle it! How are you doing with the change in travel plans?”

  
Well I-I it’s cool! It’s nice! It’s a lot of responsibility because I don’t want Troy to get hurt so that’ll be stressful.”

“Welcome to my world,” Wolf deadpanned. Kipo looked at her.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’ve been protecting you since I found you,” Wolf laughed. Kipo rolled her eyes.

“I can fight for myself,” she scoffed.

“I’d rather not take chances,” Wolf said. Benson grinned.

“Come on Wolf, just admit it.”

“No.”

“Admit what?” Kipo asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Wolf said, glaring at Benson.

“Timbercats! It’s Flapjack Tuesday!”

“Crap! I gotta go! See ya!” Benson took off running.

“Yeah, don’t be late for your cooking date!” Wolf yelled after him. “Come on, we don’t want to waste time today since we should leave at sunrise if we want to arrive at Umlat Territory at dusk.”

“What is up with you and dusk?”

“Stealth is your friend,” she said blandly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need my laptop back the computer I'm using has a ton of broken keys


	5. Jolene and the Jaguar

“Ready?” Kipo asked. Everyone nodded. “Okay, if we’re not all back in four days, that's a problem. I’m not sure what to do if that happens, but it’s not good.”

“If a pair isn’t back in four days, wait another half day. If they’re still not back, go to the first pack they were supposed to meet with. For me and Kipo, that’s the Umlat Snakes. For Benson and Troy, that’s the Fitness Racoons. For Dave and Lio, that’s the Mod Frogs. If they have been there, check with the second pack, which would be the other one in that area. Or, if you have a pea-sized brain like Dave, that’s the Newton Wolves, the Scooter Skunks, and the Hummingbombers respectively. If they haven’t, retrace the route they travelled for any tracks,” Wolf continued.

“Since when was Wolf in charge?” Dave asked.

“Since she’s my best friend, and knows more about the surface than me,” Kipo said plainly. Wolf grinned smugly at Dave. “Okay, let’s go!”

The three teams split up, Kipo and Wolf going to the left while Benson and Troy went straight and Dave and Lio went to the right. Kipo stretched out her arms and reached behind her head after they were out of view of the Timbercat village.

“This takes me back to the day we first met,” she smiled. “You didn’t even like me then. Look at us now.”

“If you hadn’t been so annoying we never would have started travelling together,” Wolf smiled back. “Now we’re best friends.” Kipo looked up to the blue sky.

“I probably would have died without you.” Kipo shook her head. “Even with the Jaguar ‘protecting’ me. If it really did, I would’ve lost myself.” Wolf blinked a few times.

“Don’t talk like that. You’re strong, Kipo. If I hadn’t met you, I never would have been me. I would have just focused on survival. Benson pointed that out to me,” she said softly. “Without you, I only survived. With you, I’m part of something more. I’ve learned so much from you, Kipo.”

“You’re just saying that,” she laughed.

“No, I’m not,” Wolf insisted. 

They kept talking as they walked, laughing occasionally but still staying pretty quiet. When the day was on the cusp of turning into night, Wolf paused.

“We can either bunk down for the night, or keep going.” Wolf scanned the ground then the sky. “But clouds are coming in.”

“We can keep going, and I’ll just guide you!” Kipo grabbed her hand before Wolf could object, leaving her brain to try and process what had just happened. 

They stopped walking again when the sun’s rays had fully set and they had just exited the forest, standing on a cliff looking over Cactustown. They had only stepped a few feet out when Kipo let go of Wolf’s hand, placing her hands on her hips. 

“Well, I think we should wait a little longer, and then go down. They might still be sleeping right now,” she reasoned. Wolf nodded in agreement. She started gathering sticks, grass, logs, and other flammables and soon they had a small fire.

“As soon as this dies, we go,” Wolf said. “It’s nice to be able to see again.”

They sat and talked a bit more for maybe another hour or two before the fire was on the brink of dying. Then Kipo heard something in the bushes, even without her jaguar ears out she could hear very well. The rustling of branches, the crunching of leaves, and then the drawback of a crossbow. When she heard the trigger click she tackled Wolf backwards, the arrow whizzing past the both of them.

Emilia stepped from the dark, her eyes cold as ever and her frown prominent.

“So, Kipo, it’s been a minute since I’ve seen you.” She held her hand up and a squadron of about eight came behind her, blocking any escape. All of them were trained on her. Emilia flashed a wicked grin. “Things have changed a bit since then, haven’t they.” Kipo drew a few shaky breaths.

“I know what you’re planning,” she said slowly.

“You have to understand, it’s for the future of humanity,” she sneered. Wolf grabbed a long stick from the fire, jumping in front of Kipo and baring it.

“She’s the future of humanity,” Wolf snarled. The people trained their sights on her. Emilia frowned.

“You’re wearing a mute on your back, yet you are risking your life for one. Come to your senses, kid.”

“I want the best for humanity too! And mutes! We can live in peace!” Kipo said. Emilia raised an eyebrow.

“Look at what mutes did when they ruled. Look at Scarlemange.”

“Look at what humans did when they ruled! They made the world like this! And you made Hugo the way he is!” Kipo shouted. 

“That’s it. You know what to do.” Emilia gave a curt nod and they all fired, but Wolf had already jumped ahead and swung at Emilia.

Kipo didn’t even have to say her thing to make her go half-jaguar. Her legs and her paws came out and she swung at half the group, only one evading her reach. 

Being small and nimble was beneficial to Wolf as with four people chasing her she could still pursue Emilia who had taken to running. She eventually lost sight of her and turned around to thrust her arm out, causing the man directly behind her to stumble backwards and trip over the person behind him. She jumped over them and kicked another and threw her torch at her last pursuer. The torch ignited their cloak, forcing them to stop fighting in order to put it out.

She ran back to the cliffside, Kipo joining her soon after with all her opponents still on her trail. Wolf was reaching for another burning stick when she saw Emilia creeping in the shadows, her crossbow loaded and trained on Kipo.

“ _ Kipo! _ ” Wolf’s shrill cry pierced the air as the bolt flew through the air. It was like time had slowed, Kipo turning in time to see Wolf as she pushed her out of the way, the arrow piercing her side. Kipo’s eyes widened as Wolf landed on her stomach, then standing and clutching her side before collapsing again. Kipo heard Emilia cursing as she ran to Wolf’s side.

“Wolf!” She was still breathing but her eyes remained closed, it reminded Kipo of when Wolf got stung by the deathstalker. She stood up, growling and lunged at Emilia, her fangs bared. Her paw wrapped around her neck and she stepped back and held her over the cliff edge. Emilia’s face remained calm and she had a cruel smile plastered on.

“Do it. Show them you really are a monster,” she chided and Kipo regained control of herself. She swung around and flung Emilia into a tree, and then with a deafening roar, she transformed fully into the Jaguar, losing her senses as the Jaguar took over and she barged towards the humans surrounding Wolf. They scattered and the Jaguar gently picked up Wolf’s pelt in her snout and ran into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here on out it gets really shippy, just giving a heads up!


	6. Thrifting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These next two chapters follow Benson and Troy, and after these two we go to Dave and Lio before returning to Kipo and Wolf. I wonder how they're doing?  
> This one is mostly fluff in apologizes for the angst in the last chapter. Plus I love this ship

“So, how long have you been on the surface?” Troy asked. Benson shrugged.

“My whole life. It’s actually pretty nice once you get used to it. And if you have a buddy who’s been alive since the fall.” Benson fiddled with his fingers. He missed the weight of his backpack and everything he had in it. His cassette player he’d have since he was seven, his entire music collection, Kipo’s anchor, his headphones, a lot of things that were important to him or useful for survival like his lighter. 

“Dave seems pretty interesting,” Troy said. Benson nodded.

“Definitely. I mean, he was alive in the old world so he has some stories from then. Some of those are pretty funny. Like, he apparently used to be really small so one time he had to fly around for hours trying to avoid being squashed by some kid.” Troy laughed, a sound that was music to Benson’s ears.

“We didn’t have any non-mutated bugs or animals, they all had something weird about them. Like two-headed cows. They were pretty cute.”

“I thought Asher was the animal lover?” Benson joked.

“There can be two of us,” Troy smiled.

They came out of the woods, looking over Las Vistas. Benson scanned the area for any landmark he could make out, a little “ah-hah!” slipping past his lips when he spotted the nose.

“There are the Fitness Racoons! Now we just gotta get there.” Benson carefully walked down the grass to the sidewalk, slightly tripping on the uneven stones but catching himself. He looked back to see Troy smirked and he blushed. “We’ve been walking on grass for a while. Gotta get used to concrete again.”

“Okay, sure,” Troy said teasingly.

The time it took them to walk halfway to the nose, it was already almost sunset. Benson brought them into a fairly intact thrift shop, the only ruined part was the broken windows. Benson was disappointed to see the counter glass was shattered too, and only the metal bars stayed in place. He spread his hands out.

“We can stay back here, we just have to get rid of the glass, there’s probably a broom around here somewhere.”

“What is this place supposed to be. There’s like a mix of everything here.”

“I honestly don’t know. It’s called a ‘thrift shop’ but I don’t know what that means exactly. But I do know it has a ton of stuff that might actually work, unlike a junkyard.” Benson walked through the messy and narrow aisles until he found a dusty broom. He smacked the head of it against some shelves and when he was satisfied with it he swept the glass out from the small space. “There! Now we won’t be stabbed while we sleep.” 

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Benson turned around and pulled a long empty self off the wall, leaning it against the metal skeleton of a counter to block the space from being easily seen from the outside.

“Actually, a store like this one is where I got my cassette player, on the other side of town.”

“Maybe there’s another one around here. I mean, they seem to have a lot of stuff here.” 

“Yeah, then you can have one.”

“I meant for you,” Troy clarified. “Yours got destroyed, right? I don’t need one. Plus, we’re going to be close for a while and travelling together for the next few days, so I can listen with you.”

“Oh, right, yeah, but I don't need another one! It’s fine! You can have it!”

“I insist,” Troy said stubbornly. Benson sighed in defeat. 

“Okay, let’s look.”

Benson walked the aisles slowly, looking for something else more than a new cassette player. He smiled slightly when he found some backpacks, looking through them for something that matched his style. He finally found one he liked well enough. It was mostly purple with the two extra pouches on it being a neon green. He slung it over his shoulders, happy to feel any sort of weight on his back again but unused to how light it was.

He kept walking around, halfheartedly searching for a cassette player. He did want one, but he also wanted Troy to have one. He knew how nice it was to be able to listen to anything you already had and keep it on your person.

“Benson! Come here!” Benson hurried over, feeling a mix of emotions when his eyes landed on a Walkman. “It’s an original Walkman! First edition one ever released. This was ancient even by the fall’s standards.” Troy opened a box to reveal an assortment of cassette decks.

“Troy, you know you can have it. I don’t need it,” Benson chuckled nervously. Troy simply smiled at him. 

“Come on, look at decks with me. We can probably find some good ones.”

They did look through the box and took one of every album they could find. There were a lot of copies of the same one, like the first Oz the Originator album but that didn’t matter. After looking through them and grabbing what they wanted they looked around a bit more. Benson grabbing some headphones and Troy finding a packaged pair of earbuds.

The last thing Benson looked for was some blankets and pillows. By himself, he most likely would have just slept on the floor. He really didn’t care all that much. With Troy with him, however, he wanted to make sure he was comfortable. 

He was only slightly head over heels for him.

Troy joined him, shifting uncomfortably behind him. He looked slightly concerned at Benson felt the different materials.

“Aren’t you worried those could have bed bugs?” He asked finally, eying the fabrics warily. Benson shook his head.

“After two-hundred years, they would be long gone,” he reassured.

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

“Okay.” He took a deep breath, still worried about it slightly.

Pillows were much easier to pick out, since all he did was push them to see if they were soft or hard. After deciding on those as well. He set up their bed. There wasn’t really much room for being distant and while he loved the idea of being next to Troy, he was also nervous about it.

“Does that look good?” Troy nodded in response.

“It looks perfect.” He still looked slightly uncomfortable so Benson placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, trust me, any bed bugs are dead by now, and even if they were alive, they’d have left. They’d be the size of Toddler Dave, so we’d definitely see them.” Troy placed his hand on top of Benson’s and shot him a thankful smile.

After night had fully taken over, Benson decided to try and sleep. It wasn’t easy feeling Troy’s warmth radiating next to him. He felt like he was on fire and he was only under one blanket.

“Benson?” He jumped slightly, turning to face the other in surprise.

“Yeah?” He responded nervously. Troy still looked anxious, but this time Benson could tell it was about something else.

“I think our date is gonna have to wait until after Emilia isn’t a threat anymore.”

“Our date?”

“Yeah, I mean, that’s what I wanted it to be. Like an actual date. But it has to wait.” Benson looked at him blankly.

“You wanted to go on a date with me? That was what it was?”

“Yeah,” Troy looked like he wanted to shrink in on himself.

“Why?” Troy laughed at that.

“Well, who wouldn’t? You’re handsome, smart, brave, and a total dork.”

“But you’re the handsome one! The smart one, the brave one, and you’re just amazing!” Benson stared at him. “Honestly I thought you were into Dahlia when we first met.”

“No, she’s like a sister to me. Same with Asher, just my younger siblings. So I want to protect them, y’know?” Benson nodded.

“So, if you wanted to go out with me, does that mean you wanted to date me?” He asked.

“Well, do you want to date me?”

“I asked you first.”

“I asked you second.”

“Fine, yes, I want to date you,” Benson admitted, his cheeks heating up.

“I want to date you,” Troy clarified.

“Does that mean we’re dating now?”

“I don’t know, I’ve always done a date first. But with you, I’d like it if we started before the date.”

“Well, I’ve never actually done this before. So before the first date is fine with me.”

“Is it fine with you if I call you my boyfriend?”

“Yes”

“Is it fine with you if I hold your hand?” Troy asked. Benson smiled at him.

“Yes.”

Troy didn’t hesitate before taking his hand, his smile lighting up the dark room.

“Goodnight Benson.”

“Goodnight Troy.”

Neither had slept as soundly since everything had started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Depression is a bitch lol that's what really made this one take so much longer. I lost inspiration and I haven't really wanted to do anything for the past few days besides sleep. I'm also about to start school again tomorrow (September 8th) so that may slow things down too. I'm sorry for the delay. Good news is my laptop is fixed! I have a working space bar now. All that's left is to get used to this computer again.


	7. The Travelling Pack

They were woken up with a roar, both jumping up and looking around.

“What was that?” Troy looked at him expectantly and worriedly.

“Kipo,” Benson whispered.

“Do you think she’s okay?” Troy started to leave but Benson grabbed him gently.

“Yeah, she’s okay. She has Wolf with her and Wolf is the best fighter I’ve ever met. Even without her deathstalker stinger, she’s amazing. Plus, since we’re her anchor, she’ll be able to turn back with Wolf there. Plus plus, she’s at least two days away.”

“You’re right. But I don’t think I’ll be able to go back to sleep.”

“Me either.” Benson agreed. He looked outside their shelter and could barely make out the building across the street. “It’s pretty dark out, I don’t think it’s a great idea to keep going until daylight.”

“Actually, maybe we don’t have to.” Benson looked at Troy in confusion. He beckoned him to follow and Benson complied. “Another nice thing about living underground is we still made old world tech. Not everything but more like walkie-talkies and slowly we were learning how to make things similar to laptops but they wouldn’t need internet. The main thing we made was rechargeable batteries from renewable sources. That’s the only reason I know about them. Flashlights use batteries, so we could probably find a flashlight here and some batteries too.”

“I’ll follow your lead.” Benson smiled. 

Troy could barely see as he walked by memory to some flashlights he had seen, and he could only hope the batteries still worked at all. After two hundred years, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for them to be out of juice. He had to blindly press his fingers against the flashlight a few times before a weak yellow light turned on. “Ta-da!”

“So that’s what that does,” Benson mumbled, waving his hand in front of the light a few times. Troy chuckled.

“Yeah, and now we can keep moving until either the batteries die or we get tired again.”

Walking around the abandoned town at night felt different. Benson may have lived in a home there before he met Kipo, but he always avoided this part of town at that time. It was Scooter Skunk territory, the entirety of west Las Vistas was. Hummingbombers took east Las Vistas and it left only a few square miles of neutral territory, the territory that everyone who wasn’t part of a pack lived.

Even then, most were transient like Wolf, never staying in the same place too long. Benson and Dave, however, liked to have some sort of routine, so exploring during the day and then making their way to their home at night was their thing. West Las Vistas was less eirre than central for a few reasons. One of them being there were no crumbling skyscrapers looming above them, there wasn’t remains of creatures and life scattered everyone. Homes weren’t destroyed so they only showed the fear of when the world collapsed.

It made Benson shiver just thinking about it.

Where they were it was mostly intact shops with shattered glass, a clear sky with a view of the meadow and the woods. Both had good and bad memories associated with them. They walked over a bridge and Benson looked over it. He looked below them to the small clearing of woods that was oh so familiar. He remembered chasing Wolf all the way down there, setting a trap for her, then getting attacked. Jamack saving them, and the explosion. Admittedly, there was a large crater from the bandolier dropping.

What caught his attention most were a few shadows moving around the ground. He couldn’t tell who or what they were, only that they moved nimbly or not at all. Troy seemed to catch on too, as he shone the light down. They were so high that it barely illuminated anything. They could see the top of a green frog head and a sombrero that both looked up at them immediately.

“Oh, great, now what are you all doing?” A familiar voice shouted at them.

“Jamack?”

“No, I’m the Easter Bunny. Yes, Jamack!”

“Easter Bunny?” Benson asked Troy.

“I’ll explain it later. Who’s Jamack?”

“Let’s bring you down to meet him.” Benson leaned slightly over the concrete wall of the bridge. “Hey, guys! Do you mind if we come down?”

“Yes, we do-”

“Not at all, Cowardly Benjamin!” The other creature butted in, who Benson recognized as Puck

“It’s Benson!”

“I know dear boy, I was simply messing with you.” Benson huffed and motioned for Troy to follow.

The yellow beam shook as they tried to carefully manoeuvre down to the ground. Troy almost slipped a few times but Benson held him up until he could regain his footing. Touching the ground Benson offered his hand to Troy who accepted it.

“Okay, so you have another human, but there’s only two of you. Where’s Kipo?”

“Wow, not even a ‘how are you? Or what’s up?’”

“Well, that’s because I don’t care.”

“But you care about Kipo? I’m gonna say it, dude.”

“Don’t you dare! I’m just making sure my noble sacrifice wasn’t wasted.”

“She changed your heart, man!” Jamack’s hands tensed and he stretched his arms.

“Indeed she has! Our mutual frog friend has become a legend that we the Theaotters are honoured to house him and travel with him.”

“So how much is he charging you? Well more like, what is charging you?”

“Nothing! Absolutely nothing!” Puck clapped his hands together happily. “We simply provide for him!”

“It’s all I need since the Mod Frogs have been put in their place by you four,” Jamack reasoned. “Now you never answered my question from earlier, what are you doing?”

“We are going to the Fitness Racoons and Scooter Skunks to warn them about Emelia and the Human Resistance,” Troy stated. Jamack looked him up and down.

“And who is he?” he grunted, jabbing his thumb towards Troy.

“That, is Troy, one of the humans who originally came from Kipo’s burrow.”

“I thought Scarlemange had all the humans and then Kipo broke them out.”

“Yes, she did, but Dr. Emelia tricked them into following her. Also, Dave and I protected Troy and two other humans when Scarlemange attacked.”

“Both those names remind me of turbulent times,” Puck groaned, his tail swishing back and forth above the ground. “Scarlemange’s thirteen-year long tyranny is not one that will be forgotten any time soon. And the wicked doctor, Emelia, has left us fleeing in terror more than once. Our theatrics must have attracted her. It has attracted more than our fair share of unsavoury types.”

“So, what does this human want to do that makes it so you have to go warn the packs?” Jamack asked.

“She wants to kill all speaking mutes,” Troy said. Jamack and Puck looked at each other.

“You’re trying to ally all the packs to you? They won’t do that. The Earth could be about to be destroyed and they would still be trying to kill each other.”

“Well, this is Kipo we are talking about again. She befriended you, the Umlat Snakes, the Timbercats, Muholland the Waterbear, and the Fitness Racoons within ten days. And then later Cappucino, the Theaotters, the Chevre Sisters, and nearly changed Scarlemange’s heart. Keeping in mind the goat sisters, Fitness Racoons, and the Theaotters were peaceful already, that’s three entire packs and three aggressive mutes. Just by talking. If anyone can do it, it’s her,” Benson asserted

“The boy is right. That girl has amazing powers. She is incredibly charismatic just by her nature. I have no issue believing Kipo the Mega Jaguar can unite all mutekind. Many actually fear her. More of them respect her.” Puck folded his arms behind his back. “While I am no soldier, we would be happy to spread the word.”

“Well, if we get in any trouble I’ll handle it.” Jamack adjusted his tie and held his head up.

“So, you guys are going to help us?” Benson asked.

“We are at your service.”

“But, but, but, but, but, by our choice. We can leave whenever we want,” Jamack clarified. Troy nodded.

“Of course. It’s by your choice,” Troy emphasized. Puck grinned, showing his fangs.

“First, we sleep. Then we go to the packs! Cappuccino will gladly welcome us back, I’m sure.”

“If she tries to put me back to work I’ll throw her into the river,” Jamack grumbled.

“I’m sure she’ll excuse you after you so valiantly rescued her.” Puck gently placed his paw on Jamack’s shoulder. Troy eyeballed them.

“So, is it okay with you two if we continue on our way?” he asked. Puck nodded.

“Of course! Journey on, brave heroes!” He waved them goodbye and him and tugged Jamack into the woods, speaking quietly between them.

“An explanation of who that was would be nice,” Troy whispered to him.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So everything is going to take me longer, my study hall has been changed without my knowledge so I no longer have that time to work on this. Instead, I am in a class with my ex who I had an abusive relationship with. I don't have a study hall again until next semester. I really hope I can get this story done before season 3 comes out, but right now things aren't working great. On a different note, I refuse to give up. This story will be finished, I will not abandon it. I don't care how uninspired I get, my inspiration will come back eventually and I will finish! No matter how many extra chapters I add.


	8. Reignited Fire

“That was Jamack, the first mute that tried to catch Kipo, and a former Mod Frog.”

“First mute that tried to catch Kipo? That sounds bad,” Troy stated. Benson nodded.

“Okay, yeah, it sounds bad, but it’s actually not that big a deal. A lot of mutes tried to capture Kipo when we first met them, some actually succeeded! Like the Timbercats, they put us in the litter and brought us all the way to the forest from the clover burrow. It’s really just the norm up here, or more like it was,” he explained. Troy looked at him with concern.

“You’ve really been running your whole life? How could you live like that?”

“Well, what choice did I have,” Benson said sadly. He couldn’t remember much of his childhood or his birth parents. Just their faces. It made it hard for him to sleep sometimes with the image burned in his brain.

“I could never do it,” Troy said, looking up at the stars. Benson looked at him in surprise.”

“Seriously? You’re the second-bravest person I know, and that’s behind Kipo because I mean, homegirl got thrown on the surface and didn’t get scared after the shock died down. Plus her whole ‘destiny’ and stuff, like I don’t think any old-world human could beat her. You, though, as just a normal teenager without magical powers, have a ton of balls. You tried to fight a two-headed flamingo, and tried to get in Pierre’s way, and snuck to the coronation in Molly’s fur! I wish I could be like you, dude. I get scared easily and most of the fights I’ve won were through tricks, like the first time I met the Mod Frogs. I convinced them that there was such thing as ‘explosion berries’ and that I had been doused with them and that if even a single drop touched them they would explode. Then I just sprayed them with explosion berry cola and they scattered wicked fast. With the Umlat snakes, I just put on a shed snakeskin and tried to pretend to be a snake. I could keep going on but it’s the same, I rely on tricks. You are confident in you!” Troy blushed slightly.

“You’re the second-bravest person I know,” he muttered.

“I disagree. I think you are the second-bravest person you know,” Benson insisted, earning a laugh.

“So, how far away are we from these racoons?” he asked. Benson looked ahead of them and smiled.

“Right there. We just have to go through the Pit of Despair.” Troy paled.

“Why is it called the Pit of Despair?”

“Because that’s where Beak Beak used to live, but we got rid of him. So now it’s a place for the coons to exercise. They just never changed the name.” He let out a sigh of relief.

“Okay, let’s go.”

The sun had started to rise by the time they had reached the entrance to the racoon’s gym. The shadow of the looming trash archway before them cooled them greatly and Troy even found himself shivering. Las Vistas was cooling off, so it seemed like the seasons were changing. The scent of all the two-hundred-year-old trash was overwhelming, it smelled worse than it did while humans ruled the surface.

“Hey, guys! Is it cool if we come in?” Benson shouted into the dark opening. It was silent for a few moments before they heard footsteps rapidly approaching them.

“Benson! It’s soo good to see you again! How have you been? It’s been a few weeks since we last saw you, literally. Like, that coronation was a total disaster. We didn’t like Scarlemange anyways, but that made us dislike him even more. Everyone has been exercising like crazy since them because we all almost died! So they want to make sure if they die they were really at their top game, you know? Of course, you do!” Carton spoke quickly, wrapping Benson in a tight hug just as fast. Benson patted her back as best he good as his ribs were being crushed.

“Carton, hey, we kind of want to talk to everybody. It’s really important and we’re kind of on a time crunch.” She let go and looked at him worriedly.

“Is everything okay? I thought with Scarlemange gone, everything would be good.”

“Unfortunately, no,” he chuckled awkwardly.

A few minutes later, Benson was standing on the DJ’s stage facing the entire pack of racoons. Troy was at his side as the crowd stared at them both. 

“Hey everybody, so I wish I was here to play you some more awesome music, but we have a big problem.”

“Whatever it is, we can face it!” Label yelled from the back. Benson smiled weakly.

“I know we can take it, but we have to be careful. This problem isn’t like Beak Beak, Beak Beak was a mega mute who couldn’t rationally think, what we’re dealing with now is a very powerful human.” The murmur that had risen from Label’s shoutout died immediately. 

“Her name is Emelia. Dr Emelia. She is smart, strong, clever, and manipulative. She has a human army that will obey her every command. She’s not like us, she’s different. She has an agenda and a means of achieving it.” He took a deep breath. “She wants to kill all speaking mutes. All intelligent mutes, any that might try and stay the way they are and not turn back to animals. Mutes like Beak Beak she’ll turn back into pigeons. Mutes like you all, she’ll get rid of.” 

The way the crowd looked reminded Benson of when Wolf gave her speech, the fear in their faces made him feel guilty. He looked for anyone that seemed determined to stand up and take everything head-on, but everyone seemed resigned to the fate Benson had just warned them about. Then something brushed his shoulder and stood in front of him.

“Friends, this is grim news indeed, but we are strong! We are towering evergreens that can stand in the harshest conditions! We just barely learned to believe in ourselves, we can’t give up now! While we are no army, we can run fast. If help is needed, we will be there! Every being on this Earth has a purpose, and ours is to back up those fighting for us! If they need us, they can rely on us.” The crowd slowly erupted in excited cheers and returned faith in oneself. Tongue Depressor smiled kindly at Benson and bowed slightly.

“We will back your cause, Benson.” Benson returned the bow.

“Thank you, T.D, right now we just want to get all the packs united. If anyone here gets attacked, send a messenger to the next pack or directly to us Timbercats. But I have a question.”

“Go ahead, Benson.”

“Where are the Scooter Skunks?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I now refuse to sleep until I finish a chapter, I have to get this done before season 3 breaks me.


	9. Goth Rats

“Right beyond this hill is the warehouse of the Scooter Skunks,” T.D waved ahead of them. “We’d accompany you, but the Skunks don’t take kindly to us. Debra and I have had some prior encounters.”

“And somebody has to bring Tounge Depressor home!” Label announced. Benson nodded.

“It’s cool, we get it. You guys take care of yourselves, thank’s for bringing us all the way out here,” Benson said. The duo nodded and turned, walking back towards their home. 

Benson and Troy looked at the ruined brick building in front of them. The short crumbling building looked intimidating, part of the roof had collapsed in and the north corner was falling over. Bricks laid scattered around the outside. Maybe the most offsetting thing was the chimney billowing black smoke into the clear sky. Three rows of about fifteen scooters each sat vacant outside the building, their owners nowhere in sight. The steel doors stood ajar opening into a dimly lit room.

“I’ve only met three of these guys and that was at Ratland, I don’t even remember their names,” Benson admitted. 

“That’s fine.” Troy looked in the structure. “Should we just yell in here too?”

“Yeah, here, I got it.” Benson took a deep breath. “Hey there! Me and my buddy would like to come in! Is that okay?” They stood in wait for about half a minute before three skunks stalked out.

“Humans,” the lead one hissed, the decals on her spiked pink helmet being skulls and music notes. She wore a blue jean jacket and a pink shirt. The two at her side stood with their arms crossed, glaring down at them. She leaned forward and sniffed them, her nose twitched before she pretended to gag. “You reek of racoons. I hate racoons.”

“Yeah, well, you see, that’s because we were just with some, and-”

“I don’t want nothin’ to do with hippie racoon lovers. Buzz off,” she snarled viciously. She turned to walk back inside before Benson spoke again.

“W-well, ma’am, we came from there because we’re friends of Kipo, and every mute is in danger right now.” She cocked an eyebrow.

“What’s your name, pipsqueak?”

“B-Benson, ma’am.”

“Okay, well listen here pipsqueak and listen good. Us skunks only look out for our pack and that’s it. We don’t care if you’re a sentient mega-skunk if you ain’t a Scooter Skunk we ain’t doing nothing for you. Now scram before we decide to change tonight’s menu,” She sneered, snapping her fingers and her lackeys stepped a little closer while she waved Benson and Troy off dismissively. Troy frowned deeply.

“Listen here you oversized goth rat, you all might only look out for yourselves, but you owe your life to Kipo Oak.” He stepped in front of Benson, his finger pressed against the skunk’s jean vest. “She saved all of you in the colosseum and if it wasn’t for her, you’d all be terrified golden statues right now. If you don’t want to help us, then no one will be there to help you when Emelia and her army of hundreds of humans turn up knocking on your doorstep. She will kill you, and then what’ll happen to your pack? I’m assuming you are Debra, so just put aside your feud with Tounge Depressor and stand with all mutes! It’s what’s best for your surfeit and suck it up.” Debra growled, sticking her face right up to Troy’s

“How dare you talk to me like that, kid. I have half a mind to rip you to shreds right here and now. You don’t tell me what I should and shouldn’t do, you don’t tell me to get over what I’m dealing with, and you definitely don’t tell me what is best for my pack!” she roar, her fangs fully bared and her tail raised. Benson quickly pushed them apart and looked at them both.

“Okay, okay, emotions are high here, Troy, let’s calm down.” Troy’s frown remained and his eyes remained fixed on Debra. “Okay and Debbie, you gotta understand he’s just frustrated, we’ve been travelling for days and his whole life just got flipped on its head within the past three weeks. But we really need your help. We’re trying to unite mutes so that everyone has each other's back because if you were scared of Scarlemange, Emelia is at least ten times worse. And ten times stronger. You don’t all have to get along but instead of fighting just tolerate each other? Please?”

“Give me one good reason I should agree to that after what this bastard just said to me.” Debra crossed her arms, her eyes narrow.

“Kipo is the same mega jaguar that saved every mute at that coronation’s life,” Troy said plainly. Benson grabbed his hand discreetly hoping to calm him down slightly.

“Because the only way mutes can survive this is together,” Benson said gently. Debra’s eyes bore into him before she sighed and turned to walk back inside.

“Fine. Humans risking their lives for mutes. Never thought I’d see it. Now piss off before I change my mind.” She dismissed them with a flick of her hand again and the other two skunks followed her. Benson smiled at Troy as they turned to run away.

“Thank you! Also, if a racoon does come by here, don’t eat them, please! They’re trying to warn you that humans are coming!” Benson shouted behind them, dragging Troy as they hurried back down the slight hill. Troy sighed.

“I’m sorry I snapped like that, but I hated how she was talking down to you and refusing to acknowledge it was Kipo who saved everyone. She has a god complex and I can’t stand that,” he mumbled. Benson patted his shoulder reassuringly.

“It’s okay, you just have to learn to deal with people like that better. It takes some time but I’ll be here with you to help. And thanks for sticking up for me, even if you did insult her a little bit.”

“Hey, she deserved it,” he smiled weakly. Benson could see the guilt behind his eyes.

“Whaddya say we head back to that thrift shop for the night, and in the morning before we head back home to the Timbercats we look around the place in daylight for anything good.” Troy squeezed his hand.

“I’d like that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does Debra count as an OC if I'm just giving a name to a character that doesn't have one? I think I described her right.


	10. Lily Pad Floats

While Lio enjoyed travelling outside and across the world again, he had thought if he ever did again it would be by himself, or when Kipo was an adult. Not alongside a bug over two-hundred years old. He watched him with mild amusement as he waved his hands wildly around.

“-and then Benson managed to actually convince the guard he was a sheriff and put him in a cell! It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.” Dave looked to Lio. “What about you? You’re pretty old for a human, I think. Have any funny stories.” Lio chuckled lightly.

“I’m only forty-seven, I’m not that old. I do have some funny stories though. Like one time when Kipo was little she threw one of her toys in the toilet and then came crying because she couldn’t get it out without getting her hand wet.” Dave laughed with his hands on his chest.

“Oh, that is funny. I wish I had some stories about Benson like that. Maybe one from when he was about ten. We had just grabbed a bike and he wanted to show me a cool trick he could do. So much for a trick, he just faceplanted. I’m glad I made him wear a helmet though, I have to at least act sightly like a father.”

“What happened to Benson’s parents?” Lio asked. “I’m just wondering how many humans really were on the surface before Hu-... Scarlemange enslaved them. Dave thought for a moment before responding.

“I couldn’t tell you where they ended up, to be honest. I found Benson maybe a week after his parents vanished. Found him trying to reach some Explosion Berry Cola that was too high for him. He couldn’t tell me what happened and since I was in a Dave form where I could realize the kid needed help I decided to take care of him. And look how much he’s grown.” Dave smiled.

“That’s a pretty sweet story,” Lio said. “Now you just take care of each other.”

“Yep. But I still see myself as both his best friend and a father figure for him. And I can do both,” Dave said proudly, his antennae twitching. Lio nodded in agreement.

“So, Kipo said we’re going to go see the Mod Frogs. Where are they?”

“This side of Skyscraper Ridge.” He pointed east of them. “Little ways that way. Then I know a sweet hideout we can stay in until morning since trying to cross Skyscraper Ridge in the dark is a death wish.”

“Okay. Let’s move then so the frogs don’t have a total advantage in the dark.”

“Total advantage,” Dave scoffed. “Those frogs have nothing against the Daveinatior.”

“I think it’s better we don’t take chances,” Lio stated, putting his hand against the ground to keep his balance as he slid down the hill they were on. “Those frogs seem like they mean serious business.”

“That’s all they mean. Business, business, business,” Dave groaned. “No fun or anything. Suits, ties, colognes and perfumes.”

Lio held his hand up over his eyes to shield them from the sun, looking down the way to see the lake. He could make out the green figures on some large lily pads and furrowed his brow.

“There’s a lot of them. I’m not sure how Kipo expects them to react. They may just tie us up as prisoners.” Dave held out his hand in a motion to stop.

“Hang on, I got this.” With some loud grunting and dramatic flexing, Dave began to shed some of his skin. When he was finished, he had four large purple limbs that looked odd on his body. Lio snickered as Dave frowned.

“Aw, come on! That wasn’t supposed to happen!” Dave lamented. 

“Well, it’ll have to do. Come on, let’s go see what we can convince the frogs to do.”

It took them two hours more to reach the pond, which proved to be their biggest obstacle. The floating lily pads were in the middle of the water with no clear way to reach them. Lio looked around before grabbing a long think stick and hopping on a relatively small lily pad compared to the ones they were trying to get to. Dave hopped on behind him and Lio started poling them across the pond, the eyes of the frogs focused on them. Upon arriving, Lio hesitantly stepped on the main lily pad.

“Hello there everyone, so sorry to interrupt whatever is going on here. But is there anyone in charge we could talk to?” Lio asked nervously. The frogs continued staring at them until one stepped forward.

“That one in charge would be me. My name is Camille, and if you’re here to talk business I will have to decline. We’re having some rebuilding we need to do,” she said flatly, her red eyes watching them expectantly.

“I’m more here to spread a warning than talk trade. There’s a woman out there by the name of Emelia. She wants to eradicate all thinking mutes. That includes you all. We’re here to give you a heads up so you can be on the ready.” Camille rolled her eyes.

“I’ve heard that a hundred times as vice-president, why should we take you seriously?”

“I have to say I honestly have no proof because every record has been destroyed. But the pheromone collar on the Mega Monkey? That was her, not Scarlemange. She’s the one who made the monkey destroy everyone’s homes.” L

“What’s in it for us?” Camille asked boredly.

“What?”

“You heard me. What’s in it for us?”

“The Mega Jaguar Kipo will have your back.” Dave jumped in, grinning broadly. “She’s stronger than your average mega and she can think! Amazing!”

“The burrow girl? Protecting us?”

“Not just that!” Lio interjected. “Every other pack that joins will have your back too, not just one.” Camille tapped her fingers against her chin.

“Consider it a deal. We’ll keep watch.” She offered her webbed hand, which Lio accepted. “We’ll send one of our flies should we need you.”

“And we’ll send somebody if we need you,” Dave said triumphantly. 

“Now get going, we aren’t ready to serve guests.” She dismissed them. Lio bid many small thanks to the frogs around them as they mounted their lily pad again and floated away.

“Now when we get to camp, you better rest up because tomorrow is Skyscraper Ridge.”


	11. Wings

“This is a lot more intimidating close up than from a distance,” Lio mumbled. The mass of intertangled crumbled skyscraper. Dave flicked his hand.

“Not with a bug like me to guide you. That’ll be my fourteenth time over the ridge, although the first without Benson but that doesn’t change anything. So you ready? You just gotta follow me closely. But not too close. Or else you’ll fall.” Lio looked at him skeptically yet still nodded.

Dave confidently grabbed a hold of a brick that jutted out slightly and pulled himself up easily, repeating the process until he reached the top of the first building. He motioned Lio to follow and he hesitantly gripped the same brick, his memory flashing back to almost a month and a half before, a rope tying him and Kipo together on a cliff face and Song’s roar. His quick act of untying the rope connecting them and pulling her into the irrigation system without a second thought until after the fact.

He took a hard swallow and shakily grabbed the brick. Straining a fair amount more than Dave had, it took him some time to get to where Dave was. When he finally did, he was breathing heavily. Dave patted his back and smiled at him.

“Great job. Now we only have seventeen more to go.”

“Seventeen?”

It took them six more hours to completely clear Skyscraper Ridge, the main cause being that Lio had to take occasional breaks to catch his breath and think through how he was going to follow Dave’s path, since being over half Super Dave he could move with a lot more strength than Lio. As Lio put his feet back on completely stable ground he let out a sigh of relief.

“Look, we made it across. And you’re not dead! That’s great. Now we have to do the actually dangerous part.”

“Actually dangerous?” Lio asked. Dave nodded.

“Yeah. Hummingbombers are unpredictable. And trigger-happy. Plus the explosive-nectar makes some of them rather gutsy.” Dave started walking, leaving Lio to tag behind. “So we have to hope they don’t throw their bombs at us before we can even get close enough to say anything.”

“That sounds like a bad idea,” Lio stated.

“Bad ideas are my best ideas. But this is a bad idea.”

After another hour Dave excitedly grabbed Lio’s sleeve, pointing at a house nearby.

“Check that out! That’s where me and Benson lived for like, two years before we started travelling with Kipo! I wonder if it’s been raided yet or our stuff is still there.” He ran ahead, bursting through the door before Lio could catch up and stop him. “Hey! Lio! Come check this out!”

Lio stepped in the home and looked around for Dave, who was standing in a nearby room and waving at him. Lio walked into the room and scanned it, his eyes falling on Dave rummaging through a fridge.

“Our soda is still good! Awesome! I needed an Explosion Berry with all this.” He takes a drink with a grin. “That hits the spot. Want some?”

“Sure. Why not.” Lio slumped onto the floor next to Dave, leaning his back against the weak cupboards. He took a sip from the old can, the few remaining bubbles residing on his tongue for a few moments before fading. The weak cherry flavour was relieving on his throat.

“You’re a good dad, Lio.” Lio looked over in surprise. “You know, I don’t care for being serious, I like kidding around and having fun, but I feel like you need to know. Just remember you’re a good dad.” Lio stared into the soft pink liquid in his can.

“Thank you, Dave.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Dave got up and stretched.

“We’re burning sunlight, Science Dad, we gotta go before we end up being late getting back and Wolf kills us both.” Lio nodded in agreement.

Walking after Dave into the centre of town was unnerving. Every noise unnerved Lio and he kept looking behind them. He had always been paranoid, but it was worse being on the surface. Dave’s nonchalant personality was slightly relaxing but Lio was alert to every noise and movement. Dave stopped randomly, his arms flexing and after a few seconds, he was around three feet tall. He snapped his fingers and made a finger gun at Lio.

“Completely balanced now. Also, that giant tower there is the Hummingbomber’s base, can’t get up there without wings. Fortunately for us, I have wings. I could probably fly us from here all the way there before I moult, but I could also moult mid-flight and you could fall to your death, I’d be fine.” Lio sighed.

“Let’s go from here.”

“All aboard the Dave-plane.” He picked up Lio, carrying him with two arms while the others remained at his side. Lio was tense the entire time, especially after Dave started sweating slightly. Eventually, they landed on the porch of the building and both let a sigh of relief.

“Long time to fly carrying an adult human,” Dave panted. Lio nodded.

Some wing beats filled the air and five Hummingbombers landed around them. One of them flipped up their sunglasses and studied them carefully.

“Never seen you around before. It’s bold of you to come in our territory, but you look like you’re new so I’ll give you a pass this time. Fly off.”

“Actually, I’m over two-hundred, and we saved all mutes that were trapped in Scarlemange’s colosseum, except you guys. You guys flew away.” The bird sighed.

“Oh. The burrow girl’s posse. Well, whatever you want, you have five seconds to explain why you came all the way here.”

“We want you to join our pact,” Lio stated. “We’re trying to unite all mutes against a human named Emelia. She-”

“Pass.” The hummingbird flipped his sunglasses back on. “We don’t want anything to do with any other mutes or any humans.”

“But-”

“I said we won’t do it.” He proclaimed. Dave and Lio looked at each other in slight shock. “Nothing anymute can do will change our minds. So now fly messenger and tell your leader. We’ll have nothing to do with it.”

Dave picked up Lio again before he could argue any more and flew them back to the ground. Lio looked up to the porch from fifty feet below.

“What will we tell Kipo?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna return to Tumblr soon with two posts, one explaining some parts of this story and the other about my observations of Wolf's crush on Kipo. The repetitive part of this story is over, which I'm glad because I felt like I was getting annoying repeating myself. See you all tomorrow!


	12. Confusion

Kipo opened her eyes to the blazing sunlight, her eyes blinded for a few moments before she could see again.

She was surrounded by small buildings, even with her eye level. She looked around in confusion. Last she remembered, she was in the woods fighting some humans. She couldn’t recall anything after that. The low buildings were familiar, along with two tiny patches of scorch marks on the pavement.

She yawned, stretching her arms out. She was surprisingly warm, considering she had been sleeping exposed to the elements. She stretched her arms, squinting her eyes shut. When she opened them again, she realized why everything was so strange.

Her hand was covered in fur. Also, it was not a hand, it was a paw. That was as tall as the door to the building across the street. She had a few images flash across her mind.

Wolf getting shot, Emelia being held over the cliff, her biting words, and her conscious blacking out.

Obviously, though, only half of her was out. The other half had acted quickly and she was starting to crumble. Did she hurt anyone? Did she  _ kill _ anyone? Could the Jaguar distinguish friend and foe and did it know she didn’t want anyone to die? She swung her head around to scan for any sign she had caused any harm.

First thing, she had four paws, not six. Therefore she was only half-mega, and could probably change back as long as she saw a friend or someone in her family. Next, the only things caught in her fur were sticks and leaves. No blood or cloth or anything indicative of any severe harm. Third, she had nothing caught in her claws. She let out a breath but still faced a problem.

She looked over the ground for any sign of blue. Eventually, she did find the blue she was looking for. Tucked tightly against her stomach, it was concerning to Kipo that she could have moved in her sleep and crushed her.

She closed her eyes and steadied her breathing, thinking back to her good memories with Wolf. Their hug by the fire, her saying she’d go to the burrow, karaoke in her old home. She could go on, but the smile she couldn’t control on her face told her she was ready. Focusing on Wolf, she willed to turn human again.

She was still slightly shocked that she was able to turn back. She pushed herself up off the ground, significantly colder now she wasn’t coated in fur. She looked over to Wolf in excitement but felt her heart sink when she realized what condition she was in. She ran over to kneel by Wolf’s side, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Her pelt was sliding off her shoulder slightly, her face plastered with a pained expression. The bolt was still protruding from her side and Kipo knew it was too risky for her to attempt to take it out there and now. Her shorts and pelt were both stained red with blood around the wound, and even her black shirt was obviously soaked even if the colour didn’t show.

She looked around again, figuring out why she recognized it. They were right next to deathstalker territory. She thought it over.

“Staying out here is dangerous and I don’t know if I can carry you back to the Timbercats without hurting you. I think that’s a bad idea. But also if we go over into deathstalker territory, they could probably kill us really easily. Yet we’d be safe there because nobody would go in there,” Kipo sighed, glancing at Wolf’s figure. “I wish you were awake. You always know what to do.”

She gently picked up Wolf, carrying her close to her chest. She made another final decision, slowly walking towards deathstalker territory.

The giant skull on the entrance to the street would always unnerve Kipo, something that large seemingly being killed by the scorpions was terrifying. She hated that she could also feel her shirt becoming dampened too, and she felt fully responsible. She had to keep her breathing steady.

“In for four, out for eight, keep your cool, now you’re great.” She could hear the scuttling of the scorpions around her, while she could only pick out one, she did have to keep her ears from “muting” out. 

Her next obstacle was the ladder. She couldn’t climb using no hands, and one hand was too risky if she lost grip on Wolf. She hesitated, checking her surroundings to see if there was any threat too close, and then looked at Wolf’s face, which was partially blocked by her hood.

“Herbs in,” she murmured and quickly scurried up the ladder, her paw bending the metal slightly and her other paw clutching Wolf to her chest. When she was solidly on the balcony, she let out a sigh of relief. She had done it rather safely, the only scorpion that had noticed her heartrate increase too far away to catch them.

“Herbs out.” She swiftly returned her arms underneath Wolf and sent one last glace the mutes way before carefully manoeuvring into the abandoned base. 

Inside, she put Wolf on her guitar bed, trying to figure out what to do next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the next chapter is actually partially from the first time I wrote this story, so there will be repeating of information in this chapter but I feel like it's important to get the impact I want. Also Kipo and Wolf are back!


	13. New (Old) Home

Kipo sat on the edge of the couch, looking at Wolf sadly. She felt incredibly guilty, like everything that happened was her fault. She didn’t know what to do, she wasn’t sure she could do this by herself. She frowned and pushed herself up. She didn’t have time to feel sorry for herself, she had to take care of Wolf.

She took a deep breath to gather herself. First thing, Wolf needed medical attention, the best Kipo could provide, and she certainly needed that arrow to be removed from her side. 

She studied the room, despite her memory of it she knew that you could pick up on new details every time you see something.

Quite obviously they were in some sort of apartment or condo, she couldn’t remember precisely which despite having read those old-world realtor books many times. It didn’t matter anyway. Next thing was they were in a living room, which she considered strange seeing as it only had one door. There were two windows, one broken and one intact, and there were many pieces of furniture but the one that piqued her interest the most was a small end table.

She pulled it open to an assortment of small objects, nail clippers, flashlights, pens, pieces of paper, magazines, but no bandages or anything. She pulled the pens and papers out to leave them on the table for later use since she intended to stay where they were until Wolf woke up.

She mentally noted the boards in the corner of the room for later since they could very well come in handy and turned her attention to the door in the corner of the room.

She experimentally tugged at the boards, finding them to be bolted securely to the wall. She murmured her incantation and with her jaguar strength, she pulled the boards successfully off the wall. Leaning them carefully against the wall, she glanced back at Wolf and then stepped through the doorway.

To her surprise, where she had expected a hallway there was another room. It was a kitchen, with old dirty counters and partially ruined appliances. The cabinets were stained and there was a table with three foldout chairs at it. She could see four more doors, one she could assume led to the hallway as it had a rug underneath it. She skipped over that door and went to the one next to it, opening it to a bathroom.

That was where in her burrow they had kept their first-aid, so it was the first thing to come to her mind. She opened the cabinet and to her relief, there was a roll of bandages. There was also a bottle of rubbing alcohol, along with some hygiene products. She grabbed both and spotting a towel, grabbed that too.

She hurried back to Wolf, dipping the corner of the tower in the alcohol. She cleaned around the bolt, the cloth becoming tinged red slightly from the drying blood. Putting down the towel, she hesitantly wrapped her hand around the shaft of the arrow, and after silently counting in her head, she pulled it out.

She threw it behind her, moving fast. Dipping the towel again, she pressed it against the reopened wound, using her spare hand to pull the bandage. She put a small strip over the wound momentarily. Still keeping the towel pressed against her, she carefully sat Wolf up so she could wrap the bandage all the way around her stomach. After a few full rounds, she ripped the strip off the roll and smoothed it, and gently laid her back down. She stood up and went to pick up the bolt that she had discarded.

The bolt was not like all the others she had seen, while the others were smooth triangles the one she had pulled out had hooked barbs. The three corners had small hooks sticking out. On the shaft there was some more blood and another substance Kipo didn’t recognize. She didn’t want to touch it, so she put it down on the table in the room. She closed the open window and picks up the board and the nails she had torn out, putting it over one of the windows so they could still exit out the other. 

She had to balance it until she could find something to hammer it in with. She decided that she would explore the rest of the area before moving forward to the rest of the building. However, the night was quickly approaching again and she crawled out the window to watch the setting sun from the balcony. She sat on the wood with her legs hanging over.

She looked down at her injured leg to see that some of the stitches had come out and sighed, she didn’t care at the moment.

Kipo didn’t know how they got there. Well, that was a lie. She knew very well how they did.

The Jaguar brought them there.

What Kipo didn’t know was the journey that brought them there, she only remembered her paw holding Emelia’s neck, her feet dangling over a cliff hundreds of feet high.

_“Do it. Show them you really are a monster”_

Pulling her back and throwing her across the mayhem into another group of humans and then grabbing Wolf.

She didn’t remember how they ended up here. This was the first time the Jaguar had done something Kipo agreed with. Something to save another person on its own accord.

Perhaps they were bonding like her mother had bonded with the Monkey, able to work together without having to constantly battle. However, she was smart enough to know not to get her hopes up.

 _Thank you_ , she said in her mind, hoping that her Jaguar roommate would hear and understand.

She heard cawing above her and watched some flamingo mutes fly overhead, and as far as she could tell they had no riders. She wouldn’t take any chances though, so with one last glance at the setting sun, she went back inside, closing the window behind her. 

She grabbed the bandages and wrapped her leg, promising herself that she wouldn’t stress it more. She makes sure she can still walk and shuts the door in the room as a force of habit, and the looking at Wolf’s still body she takes the blanket out from under her and covered her before going to lay on the couch and sleep through the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I did change my original plan, parts of the first thing I wrote are in here combined with things I just wrote. From here there are two choices that I'd like you all to pick from, should I detail Kipo exploring the building or skip that? It's up to you all!


	14. Ancient Luxuries

Kipo opened her eyes to a dark room, not too dark to see but not incredibly bright either. She pushed herself up and looked at Wolf hopefully, only to sigh when she had made no moves over the night. She didn’t have any time to sulk however, she had to try and occupy herself.

She pushed past the door and into the kitchen for the second time. Pulling open the drawers she found only standard kitchenware. Butter knives, forks, spoons, and a pair of scissors she had no problem taking with her. Never know when you might need them.

The cabinets below had old, stale and expired food. Some were open and had mold covering it, but there was a thick layer of dust that showed nothing had been in there for a long time. Deeming there was nothing of worth in there, she sighed and closed the cabinets. She opened the upper cabinets and made note of all the dishes and glasses that were there, along with a few pans. She might try something with that later.

The stove and fridge were stained and had their paint chipped, revealing the actual colour of the appliances. The sink had some mold around the drain, but other than that was rather clean. There was a wine holder that didn’t interest Kipo but there was also a snow globe. She picked it up gingerly. She hadn’t seen one since she lived in the burrow. She looked at the little sakura tree inside it on painted green hills with a blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds. She loved the attention to detail and carefully shook it, watching the little bits of plastic flutter down onto the bottom of the globe.

She smiled, she imagined what it would have been like when this was created. Laying on a grassy knoll with a single tree, watching the cotton-candy clouds float by overhead. She wasn’t alone either, everyone was there. Her friends, her family, and her found family. Around the tree itself was Cotton and Camille, Molly and Yumyan, Brad and Amy, T.D and Carton and Label. All around the hill , going right to left, Dalia, Asher, Dave, Benson, Troy, Song, Scarlemange, Kipo, Lio, and Wolf. Lio and Song had their arms around both Scarlemange and Kipo, and Scarlemange didn’t look wild or angry, he looked happy. One of her hands reaching towards the sky and the other over Lio’s stomach, holding someone else’s hand.

She was holding Wolf’s hand.

Her fantasy crumbled and she blinked back into reality. Wolf had held her hand before, so it wasn’t that, but it was the fact that Wolf was in danger. She hadn’t woken up in two days. Kipo didn’t have time to sit around and wonder about what life could be. She had to take care of Wolf. She put down the globe and opened the fridge.

A burst of cold air hit her hard. The electricity was still on. Well, she knew that. She had done karaoke before in the building. Though she had forgotten so it was a nice reminder that she could use that to her advantage. With electricity, she could use the lights and other electronic appliances. 

She experimentally turned the handle and was surprised that water came out, but was not surprised at the orange tinge to it. She decided to leave it running in the off chance that it would eventually become clean. If that failed, she would just boil it.

“Mulholland! You better not be in there!” she shouted down the drain. There was no response.

She looked over at the rest of the doors and skipped the bathroom as she already knew what was in there. She noticed a few hooks on the wall and one that had a purple rain coat hanging off it. She checked it’s pockets to find a key which she pocketed to be able to get in and out easier than climbing through the window. Opening the door in between the bathroom and living room she came across a study. There were three bookshelves and a desk pushed against the wall. The desk had some binders and a small table lamp along with a laptop. There was a notebook too, which Kipo took so she could entertain herself. The drawers she opened didn’t have anything much, mostly pencils and scrap pieces of paper. She didn’t linger there for too long, deciding to come back later if she got bored.

She peeked in the living room to check on Wolf again before going into the last room. She was happy to come across a rather clean and cute bedroom, with a striped pink bed and small tree lamps on the bedside tables. She checked inside a closet to see clothes that were a lot different than her own. She turned to the last unopened door in the building and was greeted with another bathroom. 

She looked at the bed again and got an idea. She went back to Wolf and picked her up, bringing her into the bedroom. She put her on the blankets and pressed her palm to Wolf’s head. She was warmer than normal, not something that was soothing to Kipo. She sighed and laid back on the bed beside her.

“Wolf, I’m sorry you got hurt because of me,” she said into the air. She felt lost. She sat up and glanced at Wolf again. Her hood had fallen off, and her hair was sticking to her forehead. Her breathing was uneven and she jerked randomly. Kipo wished she would wake up, simply so Kipo would know she would be okay and wouldn’t be left in the doubt she currently was.

Kipo stood up and left the room. She opened all the windows in the place to hopefully make it colder even if Wolf wasn’t awake to appreciate it, but she did leave the curtains closed. Pushing open the main door to wind up in the hallway she had initially expected. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this took me a week because I needed to finish my Sims replica of the building so I could have a base to go on and then I have no time to work while at school. Also, I did see the Season 3 trailer and I will not watch Season 3 until I finish writing this. Now I can bring the story back to being updated once a day and also whenever I finish a chapter. I will make Kipo explore the building a bit more, but not in such extreme detail so it doesn't take ten-thousand words but it will be a long chapter. Thank y'all for sticking with me!


	15. Strange Spaces

The scratched linoleum floor and torn carpet along with paint chipped from the walls gave off an eerie vibe to Kipo as she entered the hallway. The chipped glass windows at either end let in diluted light. She counted a total of seven other doorways and a stairwell leading down, reminding her they were on the second floor.

She decided to work her way through the floor by moving to the left until she made it back to the start. The first door on her left she had to push open rather crudely. Once it finally opened she fell down on her side, then she looked around. She had fallen into a living room, stirring up a cloud of dust causing her to cough. 

The room was fairly empty, with a lemon yellow couch and chair in the corner. A single end table that was made of spruce like wood and had a yellow tablecloth on it along with a dark brown lamp, there was also an identical coffee table. The T.V was on a shelf with a few drawers that upon opening, Kipo only found some small toys. On the top of the shelf, there was a dark grey game console that almost touched the ceiling.

The next room was another bedroom, a bed centred in the middle much like the one they were in before. The blankets were quilted white and blue, with yellow pillows against the headboard. Two blue end tables were at either side with silver lamps and a dresser at the foot of the bed. 

The room on the other side was a bathroom, with a grey and white tiled floor. There was a towel holder next to the door and the white sink against the wall. The shower was also grey and the toilet black, a stark contrast to the bedroom’s bright colours.

Heading back to the living room she went in the other bathroom, deciding that those rooms would be bathrooms in every apartment. A claw-footed tub with yellow curtains and a wall made of different shades of blue tiles. The mirror was a blue-rimmed cloud with scratches that were still visible under the layers of grit and dust.

She left that room and went into another bedroom, nearly tripping over some toys scattered on the floor. She picked up one out of curiosity and was creeped out slightly by the fact it was half a baby doll, the plastic cleanly cut. She dropped it quickly and glanced at the ceiling before she went to leave. She paused and appreciated the light, as it was a large flying saucer. She enjoyed the design and colours.

She checks the last room to find the kitchen, which was significantly larger than the one in their apartment. The table had four chairs and some books stacked on it. The counter was as clean as it could be for not being touched for two-hundred years. The cabinets were a clean white and the granite on the counters was a cool grey. The room was majority white except for a dark wood china cabinet against the wall.

Kipo went to the next room in line, entering to a half-tile half-wood floored room. The kitchenette had triangular counters on either end, with dark-grey stone surfaces. A trash can was stuffed between a corner and the brown fridge. There was a brown coffee maker and the silver oven still had a pan on one of the electric burners. A small table with one chair was against the wall in between two doorways with a small cat figurine on it.

Deciding to skip the bathrooms because she figured they would all be similar, she entered the smallest room. The worn beige carpet was brown with centuries-old dirt and a single twin-sized bed was centred under a window. The wood frame and the end table next to the bed were scratched to no end and so was the black and white blanket on the bed. A mirror was attached to the wall behind the door. A small birch wood clock sat on the end table, the hands stuck on the time three thirty-three. The last thing she noticed was a pride flag hanging near the ceiling, with shades of pink and orange and a strip of white.

She went back into the kitchen and dining room, going into the largest room in the apartment. To her surprise, it wasn’t decorated for humans. It had a cat tower, cat toys, cat pictures, and more in the same vein. A litter box and food bowl were also present, along with bags of cat food and treats. Kipo determined that the person who lived in the apartment loved and had cats.

The last non-bathroom room was a mix of a living room and study, with a brown couch and white ottoman that didn’t match each other in front of a small T.V. A towering brown and gold bookcase sat against a wall opposite of a pine desk with a small white laptop covered in cat stickers resting on it. A pile of mail and a red desk chair were also there, along with three cat statues. One of the statues was of a tuxedo cat and another opposite of it was of a grey lynx-point siamese. A small painted gold statue also of a feline was in between the other two.

The next room she went in was just a basic apartment, with a modern interior design and papers scattered all over. She found nothing of great interest asides from a small trophy with a bird engraved on it that read: “ _ 1993 8th Grade Spelling Bee 1st Place. _ ” There was also an old tome and a lump of clay that had bits of stone with engravings sticking out of it. She decided to come back for the tome later since it could be interesting.

The room next to it was much more fascinating to Kipo, partly because the moment she entered the door. The room was shades of dark blue and the walls covered by wallpaper with tiny spaceships on it. The floor was part black star tile and the other was white star tile to bring attention to the brighter area. In the middle of the ceiling was a flying saucer identical in design to the one she had seen earlier, but this one was green and blue. 

The kitchen had blue cabinets with beige countertops and every appliance was also blue. The sink was white, in sharp contrast with the rest of the space. There was a blue trash can and after she stepped into the centre of the room, Kipo noticed a rug in front of the door that was dark blue, with a light blue crescent moon and yellow stars decorating it. The brown table and chairs were hard to notice when everything else grabbed her attention, but when she did glance at it she saw a robot toy in the middle of it.

Looking over the area over one more time, she noticed the decorations on the walls. Over the entrance, there were three skateboards showing an alien abduction when put together. Over the bathroom, there was a painting of a snowy barn night with a yellow full moon peaking over the trees. Over the other three doors, there was a red, yellow, and blue moon nightlight respectively just above the doorway.

Working her way still from left to right, the first room she entered was different, with a birch floor that had a blue carpet with mixing tones on it. In the far corner, there was a black rock with large, pink crystals growing out of it. The ceiling had a light that resembled the solar system. The walls were covered in pictures of space, of stars and planets and galaxies and nebulas. A desk by the door had stacks of papers on top of it and boxes of files below it. A sleek black laptop covered in sticky notes and a creature containing a long-dead animal Kipo couldn’t recognize were also located there. The creature was odd-looking, with black spikes on every part of its body and a single eye located on its face. Another rock with pink crystals was also on the desk, a stand sticking out of it and it laying on its side.

The living room had lights that looked like balloons that were purple and blue. A rock coffee table with some chips in it sat strong in front of a blue and orange couch. A T.V hung on the wall with a black-and-white stand under it holding up a video game console. Around the room again hung more pictures and paintings depicting space or night scenes, the only one that stood out as different was one where a purple beam came from a pink rock. There was a cloud lamp hanging from the ceiling and a small mineral display by the T.V showing different minerals that were in large numbers around the area.

The last room was the bedroom, with a grand canopy bed that had a moon design on its blankets. There was another solar system display but with the wrong colours and the walls were covered again with pictures of planets. There was a cloudy night scene depicted with decals that had been put together and a light on an end table that produced a hologram of the earth that had been left on. Kipo felt like she was home in that apartment, and had she not been responsible for many other things at the time she may have stayed there forever, taking her own notes and doing her own research.

The most interesting thing in the apartment next door was a room that was fully sealed off, iron bar brace and bulletproof glass. If only the creator had made it lock from the inside. In the room, she found tables covered in vials and different coloured liquids. There were electric currents hooked up to a glowing plant and shelves of chemicals that were incredibly unbalanced. A listening device sat next to a desk with a page left open to conspiracy theories about different things. There were many tiny machines lying around that hummed and beeped.

The apartment across the way she had to force the door in, and opening it was surprised to see a room completely covered in plants. Stepping around, she could feel her footing slip as she tried to keep herself steady and see anything that might be important. The sleek shine of all the green leaves made it look like they were moving, No matter what room she went in, plants covered every surface and made it impossible to tell was what there before. No room was spared, even the bathrooms having some plants present in the area, but having faired much better than the rest of the area. When she tried to leave, she fell forward and turning around, Kipo felt her heart drop as she realized the plant had wrapped itself around her leg.

She scrambled forward, her leg turning jaguar and the plant still reaching for her with its slow grasp. Kipo felt herself sweating as she grabbed the door she had removed and pressed it back into place, the plant pushing hard against her with it’s own body. When she finally got the door securely in the frame, she ran as fast as she could back to her home, grabbing the nails and hammering the door in place so the plant could not escape. She made sure the gap beneath the door had carpet under it too so that would not be a route to freedom either.

Still paranoid from her close encounter, Kipo went into the last room before her home, just in time as the sun was beginning to set. She was relieved to find it was sparsely decorated. A grey couch, a small coffee table, a small T.V, and a painted floral lamp were the only things that resided in the main room, with wire lights that were turned off. The smallest room was the kitchen, beige and white counters and cabinets along with matching appliances. Paper lantern lights hung close to the ceiling.

The largest room creeped Kipo out slightly. It was filled with paintings, along the walls, on the walls, scattered on the floor, everywhere. Some were pleasant, showing beautiful landscapes and stuff of the like. Some were just signs, presumably sold to people to decorate their own things. Some were sketches of human autonomy, from baby to adult, sex showing in every one. Some were ranchy, scenes Kipo did  _ not _ want to see or think about, and some were gorey, showing things that Kipo would never unsee.

The bedroom had more paintings of even worse things that Kipo couldn’t even describe, leaving her skin crawling and a desire to leave the place.

And leave she did, hurrying down the hallway for the short distance back to her forever hideout. She swore she could hear noises and footsteps around her, but once safely back in their place, she wrote it off as being paranoid. Just to be safe, however, she locked the door’s two locks.

She fully calmed down once she walked back into the bedroom, seeing Wolf was still there and had even slightly moved. Kipo smiled.

She decided to take a shower, she hadn’t in so long and the running water always helped her think. Even if the water was a bit orange from iron.

Taking the shower after letting the water run for a few minutes and turning off the sink she had left on, she reflected on how they got there. The Jaguar brought them there, but why? It could have gone anywhere, it could have done any jaguar-like thing it wanted, and it didn’t even have to give her back control, but it did. 

She ran her fingers through her tangled pink hair. What was on that bolt that Emelia shot? Why did Wolf take it for her? What happened to the others? Was everyone okay? Would they be okay without her? Would Wolf be okay?

Sitting down under the running water was nice, but she still felt like everything was collapsing around her. Would her mom be able to turn back ever? What if Kipo ever lost control of herself and ended up killing her friends and family? What if she got stuck?

After a long time, she brought herself out. The conditioner rinsed out of her hair and surprisingly still good after two centuries. She felt clean and after she put on her clothes she looked at herself in the mirror. She now had bags under her eyes and she looked tired. She used to look happy and endlessly energized. She sighed and went back into the bedroom.

Without a window in the room, she couldn’t tell exactly what time it was but she knew it was dark. Kipo laid down across from Wolf, facing her.

“You won’t believe what happened today,” she said half-heartedly. “I was exploring this place because there’s so much more than just this room and I found a creepy torn in half baby doll, an apartment for somebody obsessed with cats, a space apartment, an apartment taken over by plants that grabbed me and tried to drag me back in, and an apartment for somebody who’s into some really nasty things.” The forced smiled on her face dropped and she frowned. “It would have been so much better with you there with me, Wolf. I miss you even though you’re right here. Please wake up soon.” She reached her hand out to brush Wolf’s cheek and push her hood back, allowing her hair to move freely.

She looked peaceful almost, just blissfully asleep, but Kipo knew better. She left her hand near Wolf and closed her eyes, some sleep being required to figure out what to do next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this took longer than expected, I couldn't finish this in one night like initially planned since there was so much detail I had to put in. I'm sorry for the repetitive words in this one since I only know so many describing words.


	16. Levelling Up From Scorpion Stingers

Waking up to find Wolf had barely moved was disappointing but not unexpected. Kipo sighed as she got up. She thought about what she wanted to do before the sun set again.

One, she had to change Wolf’s bandages. She hadn’t since she put them on her and while it had only been two days, that was one day more than Kipo thought was good. She also thought she should do something for Wolf as both thanks and an apology for her getting hurt. Finally, maybe something to keep her distracted like cleaning up their surroundings. 

She took to her first task with little delay, picking up the bandages she had discarded in the living room and this time grabbing the pair of scissors she had located as well. She brought both back to Wolf and carefully unwrapped the dirty bandages. She inspected the wound and was relieved that it looked like it only needed to be dabbed with a damp cloth to clean the dry blood off. The puncture was healing slowly and didn’t seem to be getting any worse, but Kipo was certain it would scar. Upon closer inspection, Wolf’s body was covered in scars. Small ones and big ones but the one that grabbed Kipo’s attention was one that went from her lower ribs all the way to her lower stomach on the opposite side. She’d ask about it at some point.

She went to get a washcloth, letting the still slightly orange water run over it briefly before returning to carefully dab around the would. She gently tossed the towel aside and wrapped Wolf back up, standing triumphantly. Now she had to think about something Wolf would like for a gift, better than a stupid hairclip.

She sat on the edge of the bed, placing her chin in her hands. What did Wolf like? She liked her pelt, weapons- well, in particular, her deathstalker staff, Stalky.

She remembered something happened to Stalky.

That was it! They were in deathstalker territory, she could just go get a stinger off the dead scorpion from last time they were there, then she just had to find a staff. She decided to go from easy to hard. The stinger was easier than scouring for another staff.

She quietly walked into the hallway and down the stairs, into a much more comforting atmosphere. The room had a counter that was blue and brown, some filing cabinets and seating, a few magazines and a laptop, and another set of stairs going even farther down. There was also a few windows and a door to outside.

She went down the stairs first, into a dimly lit basement from a flickering light. There was a washing machine and dryer, electrical boxes, heaters, generators, and a water pump and filter.

She inspected everything, the different buttons and flashing signals. The power was good, thankfully from something that wasn’t finite. The water pump was functioning, but the water filter needed to be reset. The heater wasn’t on, but there was a switch that allowed Kipo to turn it on. The washing machine and dryer both appeared to be functional and even had detergent sitting on top of them. She pressed a button that said “reset” on the water filter before leaving and going back upstairs to what she assumed was the lobby in order to leave.

The cool air hit her hard as she was reminded that she was living after the fall of humanity, that she had to protect mutes and humans and that everything was falling apart. The crumbling buildings and nervewracking scuttling were stressful, but she knew where she was going. She walked to the parking garage as calmly as she could, focusing on her breathing.

In the garage, she found the carcass of the deathstalker that had accidentally killed itself, one of its stingers still lodged in it’s back. It reeked of decay, and bits of its flesh were missing. She jumped up to pull its free stinger down, carefully pulling it off with a silver of jaguar strength. She grinned, looking at her reflection in the shine of the blood-red stinger, before hearing some clicking from behind her.

She spun around too fast and she was unable to keep her heart rate under control as it rapidly sped up as she faced another monstrous scorpion. She barely moved to the side in time as it thrust one of its tails at her, and she put down her stinger before letting her paws out. She batted away attack after attack while she waited for the scorpion to tire itself out until her focus had been directed at the wrong place and she only just swung her paw out to take a sting from the scorpion.

She roared and blacked out.

When she came to, she was horrified to find her adversary dead at her paws, one paw still pressing it to the ground and half of its abdomen ripped off and tossed somewhere to the side. She turned back still in shock, both at what she had done and her ability to be able to revert to her human form. It even took her a few moments to realize her paw that had gotten stung was stuck.

“Herbs in!” she tried to no avail, her paw was still there. She let out a huff. She had gone mega against her will and killed one of two remaining deathstalkers that she knew of. She picked up the stinger and left the garage. 

Wandering the streets of the territory, which had some naturally made walls from collapsed buildings, dirt, and rocks. Kipo looked in windows for anything that may be fitting to be a grip on a deathstalker staff. At one point she passed a small music shop she couldn’t make out the name of, but behind cracked and shattered glass there was a guitar not much different from the one she had in their burrow. It even had a strap attached. She gingerly picked it up, experimentally strumming it to find it functional, if a bit out-of-tune. She slung it over her shoulder and continued on her way, happy to have an instrument in her hands again.

Eventually, she came across a place in line with all the shops that had no windows save for the glass in the doors. She went inside, having to wait for her eyes to adjust to the dark setting. Deep red walls, black floors, no lights on, a small stage with two metal rods going from the floor to the ceiling. She rolled her eyes as she figured out what it was, a “gentlemen’s club.” Empty drink glasses still sat everywhere, but that was the only evidence of humans ever being there. 

Kipo climbed the stage, inspecting the rods. They were made of metal, and they weren’t rusted. She experimentally gripped one to find it fit her hands perfectly, and Wolf had hands that were similar in size to hers. She used her paw to slice the rod free at the bottom and as high as she could reach, using her human hand to test its weight. It was slightly heavy for her, but Wolf was a lot stronger than her so it would be perfect. She cut it again so it would be just taller than Wolf. 

Holding the stinger in one hand and the rod in her paw along with the guitar on her back, she left the club with a smile. She’d let Wolf put them together as long as Kipo gathered the materials. Rounding the corner back to their street, she froze as the laid eyes on the last scorpion, or so she had thought. On its back, there were many small scorpions, and clinging along for the ride. 

She had killed their father. She closed her eyes, on the bright side the species wouldn’t die. She patiently waited for them to pass before running back to the place she was starting to enjoy calling home.


	17. Holzkatzenältester

“I don’t understand, they should be back by now,” Benson mumbled. 

“Maybe they’re on their way?” Troy suggested. Benson shook his head.

“No, it takes less than a day to get to Umlat territory from here, and then only a day from Cactustown to the Newton Wolves. They should have been back by now.”

They were sitting a story up on a cat tower, their legs dangling over the edge. They were looking down on all the cats working like they weren’t on the brink of war. Benson felt in his gut something was wrong.

“Well, Dave and Mr Oak aren’t back either, so maybe their just running late?” Troy offered, but even he sounded unsure. Benson looked up to the green canopy.

“You’re probably right, but something feels off. I-I don’t know how to explain it.” Troy reached a hand out to comfort him. “Do I sound crazy?”

“No, it’s called a gut feeling. But I’m just hoping for the best.”

“We’re back!” Benson and Troy both made their way to the ground as fast as they could, running to meet Lio and Dave. Yumyan beat them to it, watching them expectantly.

“Well? What word do you bring? Will the Hummingbombers and Mod Frogs join our pact?” Lio and Dave glanced at each other nervously.

“Well, there’s good news, and then there’s bad news,” Dave said. Yumyan raised an eyebrow.

“What’s the good news?” he asked slowly.

“The Mod Frogs will join us,” Dave smiled.

“And the bad news?”

“The Hummingbombers won’t,” Lio finished. Yumyan frowned deeply.

“I should have known. Those selfish colourful chickens wouldn’t know pride and honour if it hit them in the beak,” he growled. 

“Where’s Kipo?” Lio asked.

“She has yet to return, both her and Wolf. At nightfall, if they still fail to show, we will send a party.” Lio nodded, walking off into the heart of the village. Dave walked over to Benson and Troy.

“So, how did it go for you guys?”

Lio did feel stressed when he had no idea where his daughter was. There was just nothing he could do. He let his feet guide him as he walked, taking a different route than normal to Song. His attention was grabbed by a cat sitting in a chair outside a hollow tree, his dark grey tabby fur with black stripes. He had long white whiskers and a thin frame. One of his legs was replaced with a peg. He appeared to be asleep with his axe leaning against his seat.

Lio awkwardly cleared his throat. The cat peeked one eye open before opening the other, one iris dilated in his green-blue eyes and the other not.

“Lio, father of the Mega Jaguar,” he murmured, his voice low and hoarse. Lio nodded slowly.

“Yeah, um, how’d you know my name?” Lio asked curiously.

“I am Razzles Mctazzlehoff, one of the Timbercat elders and among the oldest of them at that. The kits were talking endlessly of you and  ihre Crew

when you first arrived.” He stood up, stretching his arms before sitting down again. “You come to our prison,  rosa Katzenvater. What business do you have here?”

Lio thought briefly. If this was their prison, it was safe to assume that Scarlemange was in there. He could try to talk to him. However, things could go terribly wrong.

“I want to visit someone. But you’re one of the Timbercat elders? How old are you.” Razzles stared through him.

“I am twenty-three in your human years. For us cats, that’s one-hundred-eight. Old and senile, but still got many years to go. My own kittens have passed before me, though they were killed in our last battle with the Umlat snakes, they left me two grandkittens to care for. Zapados and Kia-Lou. Both are quite a load but together they never calm down, mein Herr. And let me tell you something junge, I’ll be fighting in this war too.” He leaned back into his chair. “I’ve been in more wars than the three generations before me, all the way to the sixty years before my birth when the Timbercats were first founded. There was not a lord selected for another fourty-five years. I met the first Timbercat lord, and I fought along his side the day he was killed. The first of many wars with the Umlat snakes. At least Pip took down Maise with him, that filthy Umlat,” he sighed, looking gently at Lio. “I bet you’re tired of hearing an old tomcat rattle on. Entlangrennen junge, I ain’t getting any younger.” Lio nodded rapidly, hurrying past Razzles and making his way quickly down the stairs. 

He glanced around the dimly lit hole until his eyes met another pair.

“Lio?” Scarlemange asked in disbelief. Lio ran over to him, kneeling beside his cell and putting his hand against the bars. “This feels rather familiar, doesn’t it?” he chuckled sadly.

“Hugo? I mean, Scarlemange.”

“No. no. Hugo is my name. It’s the one you gave me.” He looked at Lio remorsefully. “My sister, your daughter, has left me with a lot to think about. Who I am, who Scarlemange is, he is the child of hate and bitterness, and I am the child of love and kindness. You and Song raised me that way, Emelia birthed the evil in me. That does not make you abandoning me right. In any way. But I understand, your human daughter came first.” He crawled to the corner, sitting to face it.

“Hugo, I-” Hugo raised one finger and waved it.

“Ah-ah, Lio, it’s rude to interrupt. Now, I don’t think I can ever fully forgive you for leaving me. But I can move past it. Song and Kipo also don’t deserve any of my ire. Both of them are a product of circumstance. I am learning to accept that. Lio, I don’t expect you to forgive me, but I ask you to give me a second chance.”

Lio took a few deep breaths.

“Then help me find Kipo.”


	18. The Journey to Redemption

“You let the prisoner out?” Yumyan growled. His fur was on end, his ears back, and his eyes slits. Molly looked no different and was even quietly growling. Razzles stood beside him, his figure shorter in stature in comparison to the other two cats. He was expressionless, but his puffed out tail was enough to convey his emotions. “That baboon almost killed us all, and you let him out?”

“Mandril, actually, and if I may speak I can explain myself and my father.”

“And why should we let you?” Molly hissed, her paw twitching and gravitating towards her axe.

“My actions over the past thirteen years were fuelled by spite, hatred, and a desire for vengeance. I was prepared to use mutes to achieve that agenda in the belief it would be making the surface better for all of us. I was wrong.” Hugo looked down at the ground. “And I wish to repay that now, Kipo said I simply needed to get Lio to trust me.” He looked back to Yumyan. “If that is something I cannot do, kill me so I suffer no longer.” Molly pulled her axe out and twirled it, but Yumyan put his paw out in front of her in a motion to stop.

“You will obey my orders and all who are above you, and if you do journey to prove yourself Lio has permission to end you if he feels he must. You are no king here.” Yumyan stood straight, towering over all other beings. “You will go to Umlat territory, Benson and Troy shall accompany you two. See that they arrived there safely. If both or either arrive back here while you are out, I will send a cat on Pierre to fetch all of you.”

“Wait, we’re going with them?” Benson clarified. Yumyan nodded.

“Cotton and her lackeys will attack on sight. If you are there, they will not. You are a friend of Kipo, and when someone proves themself to the snake or the cats, we remember. You are safe in their territory. Scarlemange-”

“Please, call me Hugo. Scarlemange was the name of a tyrant. I no longer want to be considered that.”

“I’ll call you what I want,” Yumyan snapped and then continued. “Hugo will be killed unless you are with them. Lio would as well. Troy, I send with you since Timbercats always do better fighting alongside their mates.”

“Wait-”

“You have four days before we send another party to rescue you. Grab your supplies and tell Elder Razzles before you leave so I know. And here in the Timbercat village, he will also be your guardian as Hugo will be attacked by any cat who has any quarrel with him. Razzles may do anything short of slaying, but if you hurt one of my cats Hugo, you’ll wish we had given you death.” Hugo swallowed nervously before nodding. “Now go!”

They all moved fast, Hugo sticking to Lio’s side as Benson and Troy walked behind them. Razzles would give death glares to any cat that looked their way. When Troy split off from them and they arrived at their tree, Razzles stood by the door.

“I shall stand here and guard. I may be old, but I can hold off any feral felines,” he declared, leaning against the wall. Lio led Hugo inside and to Lio’s untouched room, spreading his arms out.

‘This is my room, but I’ve never used it so I figured it could be yours. The bed may be a bit small for you and you can’t use it right now but it’s here for you.”

“Thank you,” Hugo murmured, admiring the soft fabric. Lio shifted nervously.

“I-I have to get my stuff. It’s with Song.”

“Song? Where is she?” Hugo looked up at him and Lio walked up to him, placing a hand on his cheek.

“It really is you, Hugo. Not Scarlemange, but Hugo. The smart mandril I adopted,” he murmured. “Song is in the woods not too far away, she knows who she is but she can’t turn back yet. We’ll find a way. I’ll be back soon Hugo, just let me grab my stuff.” Hugo nodded and looked around the room. Shortly after Lio left, someone else walked in.

“Woah, who let the ape out?” Hugo let out an irritated huff.

“Madril, I am a mandril,” he corrected and turned to face the mute who entered. Dave smiled at him and waved a hand in a dismissive manner.

“Ape, mandril, what’s the difference?”

“A lot of differences, actually-”

“Pff, nerd. Now, I hear you are going on a little quest with my main man Benson and his boyfriend along with the jaguar father himself. I’d go with you, but someone has to keep these cats from eating Mandu. I am bringing this up because if you hurt any of them I will go super Dave on you and it won’t be pretty,” Dave threatened. Hugo held up his hands defensively.

“Hurt them? No, I have no malicious intent. I want to redeem myself, and I want to find Kipo and the wolf girl.”

“Okay, I’ll believe that, but I’m warning you.”

“You’ll have no need to enact that threat,” Hugo assured. Dave looked him over sceptically before walking out.

“Whatever, just remember what I said.” Hugo heard some talking he couldn’t make out before Benson came in.

“So do you have everything you need?” he asked kindly.

“I have no belongings, so I don’t really need anything,” Hugo deadpanned. Benson let out a sharp inhale.

“We’ll find you some stuff where there aren’t a bunch of angry mutes,” he stated, clapping his hands together and pointing towards the floor. “I’m going to go get Troy and you can come if you want or wait here until we get back.”

“Or I’m already right here,” Troy butted in, walking up to sling his arm around Benson while glaring at Hugo. He winced under his sharp gaze.

“Perfect! So let’s go to Lio and then head to Cactustown.” Benson hurried out of the room but Troy lagged behind. He turned and pressed his pointer finger to Hugo’s chest.

“I’m keeping an eye on you. If you hurt anyone, I’ll take justice into my own hands,” he snarled. Hugo nodded quickly.

“Understood,” he squeaked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a bit rushed, I'm tired, have school in six and a half hours, am working to get this finished before the work on the site starts, and working with a cat hopping on and off me. I also didn't want to make it incredibly long. You may have noticed I took the chapter counter off because I really don't know how long this story will be. I want to make it as best I can without following that limit I set for myself. As always, thank you for reading and if you read this far I love you and I'm adopting you.


	19. Rock is in the House

“Remember, you are to be back here before four days have passed. Once that threshold has been crossed, I’ll send two of my best warriors to recover you.”

“Yumyan, you’ve said that like five times. Just let them go already,” Molly grumbled.

“Don’t rush me, Molly. Now you are free to leave,” Yumyan stated. Molly rolled her eyes and left, Yumyan following behind her. Hugo cleared his throat.

“So, shall we move forward?”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Lio said slowly. He and Hugo took up the front, leaving Benson and Troy to the back. The man and the mandril discussed science and literature and things Benson didn’t understand. Troy warily watched them.

“I don’t trust him,” he mumbled.

“Who, Lio?” Benson asked. Troy shook his head.

“No, not Mr Oak, Scarlemange.” Benson was glad they were a few feet back at the mention of Hugo’s previous name. Benson put a hand on Troy’s shoulder.

“I get that, honestly I don’t one-hundred-percent either. But Kipo apparently made it Lio’s decision, and this is what he chose.” Troy nodded.

“I know, it’s just maybe because he kidnapped and enslaved so many humans. I just don’t feel like people or mutes could change from that,” he explained. 

“I totally understand, but we’re taking a shot at this, for Kipo and Lio.”

“You’re right. I’m just gonna keep my eye on him.” Benson didn’t try to argue with that.

They arrived at Cactustown before night had fully emerged, standing on a cliff looking over the sand town. The setting sun showed the absence of any life in the town at the moment. The gentle whistling of the wind was the only noise at the time.

“Wait,” Lio said, kneeling to look at the ground. “There’s blood here.”

“What?” Benson hurried over, crouching beside him. There was indeed blood staining the ground, having remained for a time due to an absence of rain for around a week. The blood was pooled in one spot and was the only around. Around ten feet away there was a scorch mark on the ground and then lodged in a tree was a crossbow bolt. Lio’s face was one of pain.

“There was a fight here, and it doesn't look like between mutes and humans. It looks like it was a group of humans and I bet our girls. Somebody got really hurt here and I don’t think it was one of the resistance.”

“Let’s just go to the snakes, maybe they know something,” Hugo suggested. Lio nodded somberly and followed Hugo to find a safe route down the cliff. Benson stared at the ground before him.

“Benson?”

“We could have stopped this, that roar was Kipo and she could be dead now because I decided she didn’t need our help.”

“Woah, Benson, don’t talk like that. We don’t actually know who got hurt and Kipo is probably okay! Also, like you said it would have taken us a day to get here so she would have been gone by then anyways,” Troy reasoned. Benson didn’t say anything, he just kept looking at the ground before turning to follow Hugo and Lio with Troy right beside him.

They did eventually find a route down, and it was night when they touched the soft sand. The full moon illuminated the landscape and allowed them to see as they traveled. When they arrived at the town, a snake slithered right up to them and hissed.

“Scarlemange and more of his human goons. This time we won’t mess around,” she hissed and coiled in a position to lunge before another snake pulled her back.

“Dew! Whaddya think you’re doing? That’s one of Kipo’s bandmates,” Cotton scolded and slid up to Benson. “Hey man, what are you doing with a sicko like that in your posse? And where’s Kipo?”

“Long story and that’s actually why we’re here. She was supposed to be back a day ago and she never showed. Wolf was with her, and they were supposed to come by here and then go to the Newton Wolves.”

“She was supposed to come here? We never saw her. We didn’t see the wolf girl either. It’s only been us, these hamsters, and there was this weird mega that ran by suddenly a few days ago.”

“Ruined our concert. Was just getting to my favourite song,” Camille complained. “Such a loud roar, louder than the equipment we were using.”

“And that’s an achievement,” Cotton finished. 

“Did you happen to catch a glimpse of the mega mute?” Hugo asked.

“Some big cat or something,” Cotton said. 

“Well, we know she’s alive at least,” Troy mentioned.

“She was at the time, if that was her blood, she might not be now,” Lio said darkly.

“Wait, that giant cat was Kipo?” Camille asked. Benson nodded.

“Yeah, we think she got into a fight up on the cliff there.” Cotton looked at the ledge, using her tail to shield her eyes.

“We didn’t hear anything,” she stated. “But, like Camille said, we were also rocking out. Battle of the Bands every week.”

“The power couple always wins,” Dew chimed in.

“Of course we do, we’ve been rocking since we hatched,” Cotton boasted.

“I think while we were in the egg too,” Camille added. Benson looked between them.

“Thank you for your help, we’re going to head back to the Timbercat village now, but since we’re here, will you join the mute alliance? It’s to protect mutes from Dr Emelia and her plans.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever.”

“Thank you,” Troy smiled and they all left. Walking back to the Timbercat village in the dark, Benson was still upset. Troy walked up beside him and grabbed his hand.

“There really was nothing you could have done.” Benson sighed.

“I know, it just feels like if I had been there-”

“I know what it feels like, don’t beat yourself up over it. Focus that guilt into motivation to find her.” Benson leaned over and pecked Troy’s cheek.

“Thank you for the advice.” Troy chuckled.

“No problem.”


	20. Playing the Guitar with Claws on your Fingers

Kipo stared at her paw. It had been a day since she had gotten stung and her paw was still stuck out. She could use her fingers, but she wasn’t able to put it away. It was inconvenient, she had to be incredibly careful to not accidentally break anything with her jaguar strength. It was something that taught her to be careful, as she almost took one of the doors off its hinges earlier. She decided to practice, by doing something she enjoyed.

She picked up the guitar she had acquired, strumming carefully and adjusting based on it. Once she had it tuned she played some chords she was fond of.

_ “Up on top, on my own. A half-mute girl, so far from home. The flowers are big, the bees are weird, it’s dangerous, just like I feared. On a surface world, trying to achieve our goal. On a surface world, I’m not living alone. On a surface world,”  _ She sang. It was a full-circle moment for her, but not really something that gave her comfort in her situation. She took a deep breath.

_ “We may not have sunshine, or starlight, or weather, but we have each other, and that’s even better. You don’t need the sun to keep you warm when you have arms. Wishes come from you and not a random shooting star. We may not have storm clouds, but the sky’s always blue. We have something special here, and what we have is you. What we have is you. What we have is you.”  _ She could imagine being held by her father in times of distress, from different things or just when she bummed herself out. It almost made her cry just to look back on how different she was now. Her train of thought was interrupted by a word.

“Kipo?” She turned around quickly, her eyes meeting Wolf’s. She went over to her side of the bed. Wolf’s eyes were teary and she leaned forward and kissed her, leaving Kipo in shock.

“I’m so sorry, you’re dead now because of me, if I had thought through and pulled you back or had just been strong enough to survive that you wouldn’t have died.” She was shaking and Kipo processed enough of what was said to realize what Wolf thought.

“Wha- no, no! Wolf, we’re not dead. We’re alive. We’re just not with everyone else.”

“We’re not? Where are we?” Wolf asked. 

“We’re at your old home. There were more rooms in the building than just your room.”

“There were more?”

“Yeah, and uh, Wolf? Why did you kiss me?” Wolf looked away from her.

“That’s what it’s called. I just saw Troy do it to Benson once. On the cheek, but I don’t think there’s a difference,” she explained. Kipo shook her head.

“No, there’s a difference. But are you okay? Do you feel okay?” Kipo asked.

“Yeah, I feel fine. Let’s just go to everyone.” She moved to fast and after she had swung her legs over the edge of the bed and winced, inhaling sharply.

“No, you’re not fine. You’re really strong but I saw that.” Wolf rolled her eyes.

“It’s fine, we can go.” She stood up on shaky legs and did stand for a few seconds before collapsing onto the bed again. She sighed and laid back in defeat. “How long was I out?”

“Five days.”

“Five days?” she mumbled some things to herself.

“What?”

“That arrow was poisoned, it had Venomcreeper poison on it. It’s supposed to only be deadly to mutes, but in large doses, it can be to humans too.”

“How do you know that?” Wolf shrugged.

“I’ve been bitten before. Actually, it was the spider you ran into the first day we met. I had just saved you from it since the bite is worse than it’s venom.” 

“Wolf, I actually got something for you.” Wolf looked at her in confusion.

“You did?”

“Yeah.” Kipo walked into the kitchen, picking up the staff she had leaned against the door while thinking about what Wolf did. She figured that Wolf probably didn’t know what a kiss meant, yeah, that was probably it. She picked up the staff and went back to Wolf, offering her the pole.

“Since Stalky got destroyed, I thought I’d get you a new one,” she smiled. Wolf gingerly grasped the cold metal with both her hands, straining before pulling the staff on the bed. She gently ran her finger down the bard and smiled.

“Thank you, Kipo,” she murmured, looking up at her. Kipo smiled back. Wolf looked her over and looked at her paw.

“Why is your paw still out.” She gripped it self-consciously.

“So, funny story, when I went and got that stinger I might have gotten stung by a deathstalker that snuck up on me? I kind of transformed and maybe turned into the Jaguar and when I was myself again my paw was stuck.” She left out the part of her killing the scorpion, she felt incredibly bad about that. Wolf brought her hand to her chin.

“That’s really interesting, most Megas can’t resist deathstalker poison. But you can, you’re really strong.” Kipo blushed slightly.

“Well, you’re stronger. You literally got shot in the side by an apparently poisoned arrow, didn’t wake up for five days, and you’re pretty much fine!”

“I can’t stand up.”

“You’ll be able to eventually, your body had to fight hard.” Wolf pushed the staff off the bed and yawned.

“I might have been out for five days, but I’m still really tired. I’m gonna sleep for a while.” Kipo nodded.

“Okay, I might have to change your bandages later, just letting you know,” Kipo warned.

“I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“No.”

“Figured,” Wolf smiled. “Also, Kipo, thanks for taking care of me.”

“I’m returning the favour. You’re always taking care of me.” Wolf turned away from her and rested her head on the pillow, never bothering to pull her hood back up. Kipo left the room and let out a sigh of relief. Wolf was okay for the most part, that’s all she had wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was trash I'm sorry lol but both songs are from the show, one with lyrics I changed and added to make it more fitting.


	21. Scars and a Pelt

Kipo wandered around, doing idle chores while she waited for Wolf to wake up again. It was mostly just to waste time, she didn’t really have anything to do. Just rearranging things. When she heard a ‘thud,’ she knew Wolf had woken up again.

She hurried to their room and looked at Wolf with an amused grin. Wolf wouldn’t look at her and had moved to be sitting on the floor from wherever she had been before.

“Hey Wolf,” she smiled. “What are you doing down there.”

“I don’t know.”

“Really?” Wolf sighed in defeat.

“I tried to get up,” she admitted. Kipo helped her up so she was sitting on the bed.

“I know you don’t like the fact that you can’t walk around but it’s because you really can’t.” Wolf crossed her arms.

“I know,” she mumbled.

“Since you’re up, I’m gonna change your bandages.” Kipo went to grab the bandages and scissors and when she returned, Wolf was slowly inching herself off the bed.

“I don’t think so,” Kipo said. 

“I wasn’t doing anything,” Wolf deadpanned.

“Uh-huh, sure,” Kipo said sarcastically. “I’m going to change the bandages now, just a heads up.” Wolf nodded. While unwrapping the bandages, she looked at her scars again. “Wolf, how did you get all these?”

“A lot of different ways,” she said. Kipo pointed at the large one she had noticed previously. 

“What about that one?” Wolf winced.

“Are you sure you want to know?” Wolf asked. Kipo nodded. She took a deep breath. “I’ll tell you, I got that from someone my old pack.”

“The wolves?” Wolf inhaled sharply.

“Yes, the wolves,” Wolf said quietly. “It was after they betrayed me, and they made a certain wolf do it, try and actually kill me. The one I had been closest with, the one that had been my sister.” Wolf reached up to touch her hood. “They didn’t expect me to fight back, I guess. It wasn’t a fair fight either, she had teeth and claws, and I just had my hands. She gave me that, and also this.” She moved one hand to pull down her shirt shoulder slightly, showing more scars in a row with each other. “And some other small ones, but I got this from her.” Wolf reached to touch her hood again. “After that, the pack asked me if I wanted to be a  _ real _ part of it, and I ran.” 

“That’s awful,” Kipo whispered. Wolf nodded.

“I’ve never told anyone that. You’re the first person. I also don’t really intend on telling anyone else. All the others are just from random fights and accidents.”

“Thank you for telling me,” Kipo said. 

“No one else I would.” Kipo stepped back to give Wolf some space after she finished changing her bandages. “Before now, I never used bandages or anything, I just kind of left it.”

“That’s kind of dangerous. It could make things worse.”

“It did a few times,” Wolf stated. “I just didn’t really care honestly, bandages feel so restricting.”

“Well now you don’t have a choice,” Kipo said playfully. Wolf smiled.

“Fine by me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is shorter than my other ones as of late since I kind of just wanted a sweet moment between them before I went back to the more serious stuff. Just a quick breather!


	22. Cunning like a Cat

The Timbercat village in the morning was somehow noisier than it was at any other time. Much more yowling and meowing and fighting and scratching than the rest of the day when the cats started taking more naps. When the party arrived back and saw Yumyan giving orders on which trees to chop, they were slightly relieved. Upon noticing them he give a few more shouts before approaching.

“You have returned sooner than expected and I see you, but no Kipo or Wolf. What news do you bring?” He asked. 

“They never arrived at Cactustown,” Benson said. Yumyan frowned and furrowed his brow.

“Was there no sign of them?” 

“Unfortunately, yes. It was a scene of a battle. And it looked most grim.” Hugo intertwined his fingers and pressed his palms together. “Someone was wounded and from speaking to the Umlat Snakes we learned that Kipo did, in fact, transform, so I believe it would be a fair assumption that it was her.”

“How do they know?” Yumyan growled. 

“Because she pasted Cactustown while a mega jaguar.”

“Oh. That makes sense,” Yumyan mumbled and turned around, his tail swishing irritably. “This is not good, we have no way to track her. Us cats are good hunters, but our sense of smell is not good enough to find her, and it is very easily overwhelmed.”

“I know somemutes that have a better sense of smell,” Hugo said. “They are also easy to please. The Newton Wolves.” Yumyan hissed.

“No. We are Timbercats. Timbercats do not and will not work with dogs. We only tolerate them.”

“Well, you did agree on asking them to join us,” Troy pointed out.

“Only in the sense that if they got attacked, we would send backup. Us cats would not have gone. Maybe the snakes would have, but not us,” Yumyan insisted. Lio silently debated.

“I’ll go ask them myself. Kipo is my daughter and I failed her once, I won’t do it again,” he stated.

“I’d go with you, but if they see me I’m dead meat,” Benson said.

“Troy, you may stay here. I will go too. The Newton Wolves value knowledge as a currency and I have quite a lot to offer them.” Hugo stood up so he was just taller than Lio.

“Come back as soon as you find her, we can only trust you’ll survive. First, however, I insist you rest until daybreak tomorrow.” Everyone nodded. 

Benson quietly slipped away from the group, making his way through the outskirts of the village to find a quiet spot to sit and think. Kipo and Wolf were still missing, possibly dead, and instead of running to try and help them, he had decided they were fine just so he could keep being gay with Troy. It was selfish of him. Even though Troy had reminded him of what he said, the fact there was nothing they could do, he still felt guilty. 

It felt like he just kept messing things up more and more, he destroyed the telescope by accident before Kipo got a second chance to look at the message, even though they had been fine without it. He had ignored Wolf’s concern when with the Chevre Sisters, even if it turned out Kipo had been safe all along. He dismissed Dave’s concern when with Fun Gus and had chalked it up to Old Dave being paranoid, even though it wasn’t the first time and Benson hadn’t seen anything. He lost Kipo’s anchor in molten gold which ended up not being a problem because they were the anchor.

Even though everything had always ended up okay, Benson still felt guilty for all of it, and this time everything was slated to end horribly. He hit his head against the tree he was leaning against. This wasn’t helping anyone and it just served to make him feel worse and worse.

He was shaken back to reality by a rustling in the bushes near him. He was barely in sight of the Timbercat village and the Timbercats tended to stay inside the area. He looked around himself again and this time saw a cat standing a few feet in front of him.

The cat was around his height, with light grey fur and dark grey tabby patterns. The cat was wearing patched leather gear and had her almost black ears with white insides were tilted towards him. Her sharp blue eyes and narrow pupils were unreadable above her pink, and her whiskers that decorated her white cheeks with black dots twitched. Benson waved a cautious hand.

“Hi there, Uhm, I just came all the way out here to take a breather I didn’t know there was already someone out here. I’ll just go.” He got up to leave but he was stopped.

“Wait, I didn’t mean to scare you, human. I just keep watch here in our woods for those pesky resistance members. You wouldn’t happen to be one of them, would you?” She purred in a honey voice, coming closer to Benson that had him back up into the tree. “Not that it would be a problem if you were, I wouldn’t mind going back with you.” She came close enough so she was practically breathing on him and reached a hand out to touch him, which he carefully pushed away.

“N-no, I’m one of Kipo’s friends. I’m Benson,” he croaked.

“Oh.” She dropped her sweet voice to be what Benson assumed was her actual voice, a still rather light voice. “Sorry, I didn’t recognize you. I’m Kia, one of our guards and our only spy. Molly doesn’t really let me take any other jobs besides guarding because of my… unusual methods.” She back away to give Benson some room, which made him let out a sigh of relief.

“They work most of the time, except for on certain… groups. Mutes or humans like my brother.” She walked further away, jumping up to dig her claws in the side of the tree. “You should get going. I wasn’t lying about those resistance humans wandering around. The rest of what I said was a lie, though.”

Benson didn’t waste any time heading back to his tree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe I'm adding all of my family's cats. Maybe I'm not. Who knows?


	23. Useless Information

“Upon that ridge is where the Newton Wolves reside.” Hugo motioned with his arm, a frown dawning his face. “I do not want to stay there long, it brings back bad memories.” Lio knew what he was referring to.

“I’m sorry, Hugo,” he whispered. Hugo parted his lips to say something, before shaking his head and facing forward.

“No amount of ‘sorry’ can ever fix what happened,” he mumbled. “But now is not the time to dwell on the past, we have goals right now. Let’s face these brainy brutes and get this over with.” Hugo lead the way, Lio checking around them constantly to see why he felt like they were being watched.

Coming to the entrance, they were slowly surrounded by wolves that were growling and howling, their teeth bared. The fact it was dusk did not make the circumstances any better for them. The observatory doors opened and the two Billions came out, their faces changing from smug confidence to slight fear.

“Scarlemange?” Billions gasped, drawing his paw to his snout. “I thought you were in jail with the Timbercats!”

“I personally thought you were dead, becoming one with your gold lake,” the other Billions growled, his teeth bared and eyes narrowed.

“The details surrounding my death were greatly exaggerated. Also, it’s Hugo by the way and yes, I was temporarily incarcerated with the Timbercats, but I have renounced my tyrannical ways and stepped into the path of good.” Hugo scanned them discreetly. “Which is why I come here. I need your help finding someone.”

“Why would we ever help you?” Billions snarled. “I should just eat you now, forget dessert!”

“Well, I would like to know what's in it for us?” Billions said lightly, pressing his paws together. “You were dethroned after all and your armies scattered. All you have left is this one measly human.” Lio opened his mouth to speak but Hugo pressed a finger to his lips without turning around.

“He is not my slave, but I would rather not explain the circumstances around our relationship to you. It’s a long and tedious story. However, what I do have to offer is knowledge.”

“And I offer protection,” Lio stated. Hugo pulled his finger away.

“From what?” Billions asked, his ears twitching.

“From the human resistance. Dr Emelia and her human army.”

“Oh, those scoundrels!” Billions shouted. “Just a few days ago we were all having our nightly howl when they shot us! Two of our pack were slain-”

“But we did get a pretty tasty snack of three of the humans,” Billions interjected. “Personally I prefer an Elkleaf, but those deer have gotten smarter. Also, they moved to the other side of Las Vistas.”

“As I was saying, two of our wolves were slain. We don’t have a huge pack, now there’s only thirteen of us. More on the way but pups take time to train and grow! If a pack as skilled and scholarly as ours was hurt by them, what can one human do?”

“I’m not speaking for just myself, but for five other packs.” Billions tapped his finger against his chin in thought.

“Brother, I think we should take it,” he said finally. Billions huffed in response.

“Fine.”

“Wonderful. Now, who is this that you need our help finding?”

“Kipo the half-mute. I trust you remember her, perhaps as the Burrow Girl?” Hugo folded his arms behind his back.

“More like the half-mute that saved all of us! You’re still trying to capture her? I thought you said you were a good guy now.” Hugo waved his hands.

“No, no, you misunderstand my intentions. She is my sister as part of the long story I decided against telling you.”

“And my daughter. She was supposed to go to the Umlat Snakes and then here, but she never made it to Cactustown.”

“She had someone else with her, a small angry girl that wears a wolf pelt.”

“But they were attacked by someone or somemute or something or a group and one of them may be seriously hurt. Kipo transformed too, into the Mega Jaguar.” Billions and Billions looked at each other before Billions adjusted his glasses.

“Let me repeat this to make sure I got all the necessary information, as you were both jumping on top of each other. Kipo is your daughter and your sister, she was supposed to visit the Umlat Snakes and then us with that sadistic girl, but they were attacked and that’s all you know?” He clarified. They both nodded.

“I don’t know if running into that human child is worth it,” Billions mumbled. Lio raised his hand.

“I can offer some knowledge if that would help. I used to be a teacher and I wrote a few books.”

“Enlighten us,” Billions said.

“The majority of the brain is actually fat, and a snail can have over twenty-five thousand teeth. Also, butterflies taste with their hind legs and almonds are part of the peach family,” he rattled. Billions scratched his chin.

“Not useful information, but interesting. Very interesting. Dear brother if you don’t want to come with us you don’t have to, but I will be going with them. I’ll also take our best trackers with me. Molly, Koda, you will be coming with us.” He clapped his hands together.

“Yes sir,” the two said in unison and stepped forward, standing behind him.

“The three of us will be able to track anything, and we’ve hunted harder prey than a Mega Jaguar that has such a strong scent,” he said confidently.

“And I will stay here, someone has to be able to lead the pack in case some more humans drop by,” Billions said, turning to beckon them inside.

“First, I believe dinner is in order. And human, I would love to hear more of that knowledge of yours.”

“And I’d love to share it.” Lio walked in with Hugo on his tail, stepping into the dimly lit observatory and the grand doors shutting behind them.


	24. Vally of Death(Stalkers)

It was two long days of stop-and-sniff by the wolves, with them randomly changing direction and sometimes backtracking. Billions preferred to keep on two paws, while his companions preferred four. It was interesting, to say the least, two wolves who acted like wolves and the other who acted like a human. Finally, the trio stopped, Molly pointing like an arrow at a place in front of them.

“In there,” she whispered, shuddering. Billions looked defeated.

“If the half-mute truly went in there, she is deceased. No mute or human has ever come out alive from there.” He looked down. “I am sorry but there is no chance either of them would survive.”

“That’s not true!” Lio stated. “I went in there with her when she was a baby, and we both survived And you saw Wolf’s deathstalker tail, she had to have gotten it from somewhere! People have survived and if Kipo and Wolf made it this far, I know they’re alive.”

“You may be the only one, dear Lio,” Hugo said sadly. “Deathstalkers are barely understood by mutes, even humans.”

“I don’t care, I’m going in there. I need to save my daughter.” 

“Under no circumstances will we go in there, but if you do survive, I’d like to have a discussion about space sometime,” Billions offered, his paws clasped together.

“Sure, sounds nice actually.”

I guess we’ll go in now,” Hugo said and motioned for Lio to go in first. “You have more experience with these scorpions than I do, I’ll follow your lead.”

Lio steadied his breathing before stepping over the jaw of the giant skull, careful not to trip. The overgrown weeds and cracked bones were hazards that he had to be aware of. Crossing out where the throat would have been, they quietly crept along the grassy cobblestone path. Even the air was still and quiet voices drifted through the air, making Lio wonder if they were real or just an illusion.

Hugo was the one who noticed it first, rapidly tapping Lio’s shoulder and saying his name to draw attention to the rapidly approaching scorpion with nymphs on it’s back. They both stood frozen as it drew closer and it prepared to sting them before a figure leapt in front of them.


	25. New Revelations

It was stressful, waiting anxiously every day for his friends to come back or to be told they were dead. It was painful more so than stressful when he thought about it. Nothing could distract him from it, either. When listening to his tapes, he could connect them to it. When just idling around, he thought about them. Even when cooking he was worried about them more than burning the food he was making. Dave tried to distract him, so did Troy. Asher, Dalia, and Roberto seemed like they wanted to help but just didn’t know how. Mandu also just showed affection in the way she did to try and brighten him up.

“So we’ve been here a few weeks and I realized we haven’t talked about any of these cats! Have you met any and talked to them or just kept on going by?”

“Well, I met this one cat. She said her name was Kia.”

“Oh, I ran into that one! She tried to eat me. Almost did. Maybe got my arm,” Dave said in his normal upbeat tone. Benson laughed lightly.

“Cats eat bugs, Dave.”

“Hey! Don’t use my words against me!”

“Hi, guys.” The duo looked up to see Troy, his hands in his pockets and smiling kindly at them.

“What up, Troy?” Dave grinned at him, waving a hand. Benson waved too, his heart pounding in his chest like it always did when Troy was around him. They had been together for a couple of days and nothing had really changed between them. Troy sat down next to him.

What were you guys talking about?” he asked.

“What cats we have met since coming here,” Dave replied. Troy nodded.

“I was living here for a bit before so I already knew a few,” he said.

They talked about cats for a bit longer before they heard a commotion somewhere nearby. They all ran towards the sound, and upon arriving found a group of at least forty humans standing in formation. A lone person stood in front of them, wearing one of the plague doctor masks and they pointed forward, and all the humans behind them attacked. 

“Timbercats on guard!” Yumyan commanded and everyone got into a defensive position, their axes in front of themselves. The person in the doctor mask stood and watched while the rest of the group attacked, people in the back firing bolts that often missed. The sword-wielding humans were a larger threat, recklessly charging into the midst of the ground to try and draw any amount of blood they could. 

Dave ran over to Asher, getting ready to do their combo attack. Dalia had accosted some poor Timbercat for their backup axe and was picking any fight she could. Troy had disappeared somewhere in the skirmish and Mandu was watching from the sidelines, ready to be a trip hazard for any clumsy human.

Benson was left by himself to try and figure out what to do. This time, there was no unarmed man he could get into a brawl with. Everyone was armed.

Except for the mysterious leader.

Benson ducked and dived past everyone on the battlefield, trying to sneak up behind the figure and perhaps take them out that way. The person stood taller than him, with their features indistinguishable due to their outfit. He did eventually get behind them and crept closer.

In the blink of an eye, the person pulled out a crossbow and fired at him, causing Benson to shout slightly and run. 

He ran to the side and then again ran at them. This time he was prepared to avoid the bolt and he jumped to the side, sliding slightly so he had to dig his boot and hand into the dirt before sprinting at them again. He then lunged, tackling them to the ground and pinning them down.

“Who are you?” There was no response, only the person pressing their knees to their chest and then launched Benson off of them.

Benson shook himself to his senses, rolling out of the way in time to avoid another bolt that planted itself in the dirt beside him. He kicked their ankle and they fell to the ground which gave Benson time to get up. When they were both even again, the other person swung at Benson and he returned it, punching them in the jaw, causing them to reel back. They traded blows a few more times before Benson hit with all the strength he had left and came in from the left, knocking them down to the ground where they stayed.

He was breathing heavily, and more focused on the fact he had won than on his surroundings. He was pulled to the side by someone suddenly and then he felt a sharp point graze his arm, drawing some blood. He turned to lock eyes with his assailant, he returned his gaze before being blocked by two cats who dropped out of nowhere. Benson turned back to who had tugged him and saw Troy, who pressed their lips together briefly.

“Be more careful, that could have been way worse,” he shouted over the commotion. Benson nodded while still trying to process what had just happened.

He knocked someone out, almost got stabbed in the arm instead of skimmed, and Troy kissed him. Everything except the middle one was cool.

It was only a few more moments before one human turned an ran, and the rest followed suit. The battlefield was messy, a cat and two humans that were slain and the one human Benson had knocked out. All the Timbercats kneeled around the cat in silence and slammed their axes into the ground in a percussion. They stood after a while and carried the cat high, walking in a slow march. 

Two cats separated from the group to approach Benson, Troy, Dave, Mandu, Asher, Dalia, and Roberto. One that was a brown speckled tabby and the other that was white and pale orange with a cinnamon swirl pattern. They both had yellow eyes.

“I’m Nela,” the tabby introduced.

“And I’m Sammy,” the other continued.

“And I’m here to take that human to the infirmary.” Nela pointed at the plague-doctor.

“And I’m here to bury the other two.” Sammy motioned at the two deceased. 

True to their word, they both did what they said. The group followed Nela who carried the doctor rather recklessly, with them slung over her shoulder. In the infirmary, after laying the human down another cat came in, with long black and white fur and green eyes. The cat’s fur was matted in places and he constantly shook. He removed the mask from the human to which Asher and Dalia gasped.

“That’s our mom!”


	26. Sibling Split

“That’s your mom?” Benson gasped. The twins nodded. The woman was still out cold, with bruising starting to form where Benson had punched her. Unlike the twins, who both had relatively short hair, hers was long and in a ponytail but tucked out of the way in her shirt. Her hair was also brown, and she had a long face that looked serious even in unconsciousness.

“She’s always been a leader, and she always looks out for what she thinks is everyone’s best interest,” Dahlia said. Asher nodded.

“Tough love, if we got in trouble she only steps in as a last resort. It was good cop bad cop, our dad was the good cop and our mom was the bad cop.”

“If we misbehaved dad would try to explain why what we did was bad and if that didn’t work he’d go get mom.”

“I’m glad she’s okay,” Asher said quietly, their eyes fixated on the woman lying on the cot.

“What’s your mom’s name?”

“Lily,” they said in unison.

“And their dad is named Jasper, it’s a family of plants,” Troy joked lightly. Dahlia smiled at him.

“Want me to go down the list?”

“No, no, I’m good.”

The group huddled around the small wooden cot was a sight to see, they were all very close together while talking and laughing. Benson was enjoying himself for the first time in a little bit. 

Then the cat came back in. His matted fur that was black and white, longer than Benson’s fingers in places. His yellow eyes were crazy and paranoid, darting across the room at all times. His hands went from still to moving faster than light in seconds. His long tail swished against the floor, collecting dirt and grass. His ears turned like satellites and his nose constantly twitched. In stature, he was a few inches shorter than Yumyan. He warily inspected the team from a distance.

“I’m Zapados, or Zap. I’m here to check out the injured human.” He backed away slightly. “She is disarmed, right?”

“Yes, of course,” Roberto answered, motioning towards a confiscated crossbow that lay in the corner of the room. Zap let out a conspicuous sigh of relief. He approached Lily slowly and then worked quickly, Benson unable to identify what he was doing. Eventually, he stepped back.

“She’ll live, which I expected. Only a concussion and it looks like no permanent damage occurred. I’ll go ask Yumyan what we should do with her once she wakes up. You all stay in here in case she wakes up before I come back.” He hurried outside, dropping on all fours to run. Asher looked at Dahlia.

“If mom’s here, where do you think dad is?”

“What if he’s-”

“Don’t even say it! He can’t be!”

“He could!” Dahlia shouted. “Face the facts, Asher. Two people and a Timbercat died today! One of them could have been dad!”

“Dad wouldn’t fight if his life depended on it!” Asher retorted 

“He would if he was pheromoned!” Asher let out an angry huff and stormed out of the tree, putting a hand up to signal Troy not to follow them. Everyone watched as they walked, their arms clutching themself tightly. Dahlia shook her head angrily.

“Are you two going to be okay?” Benson asked slowly. Dahlia nodded after a bit.

“We’re twins, we have to be. It’s just how we work,” Dahlia stated. Benson didn’t press any further.

There was an uncomfortable silence for some time, nobody daring to speak or move. The energy of the room was still angry and everyone was afraid to do anything would draw the ire to them. Dahlia paced, mumbling to herself and cursing. She missed the sound of bedsheets moving.

“Where am I! What have you brutes done to me! Traitors!” the once sleeping woman yelled in a powerful voice, drawing all focus on her. Everyone froze again.

Except for Dave.

“I ain’t a traitor to nobody. I’ve been loyal to all these people since I met them.”

“Where’s my bow! What were you going to do to me?” Dahlia shook her head, coming out of her state of inaudible speaking.

“Mom?”

“Dahlia?” she whipped her head around to face her. “What are you doing here? Have you been kidnapped? Are you with these Neandertals?” 

“Mom, calm down. These people saved me when the backup burrow was attacked. It’s not just this one kid you don’t recognize, Troy and Asher are also here.”

“I am here too,” Roberto chimed in.

“Mr Oak, Kipo, and the wolf girl who is actually named Wolf are also here but out on missions. We aren’t brutes. You’re being lied to.”

“No, I’m not! You’ve been brainwashed to believe these lies. Lio has been brainwashing all you kids for the past ten years!” she insisted, sitting upright.

“Mom, remember all those political books you read? And last year the dishonestly in the election for the clover representative? It’s basic manipulation,” Dahlia explained. Benson looked to Troy in confusion for answers but only got a shrug in response and an awkward smile.

“But- I-” Lily faltered, slowly sinking into the cot again.

“Mom, what Emelia wants you to do is commit genocide. Is that really the right thing to do? Is that really necessary? What’s that quote you always tell us?”

“Those who don’t learn history are doomed to repeat it,” she finished and pressed her palm to her forehead, closing her eyes. “Was I really fooled so easily?”

“Everyone was,” Dahlia comforted. “But you’re opening your eyes to the fact that what Emelia is saying is all lies. We don’t have to do this, we can live in peace.” Lily reached out a hand to grab Dahlia’’s, squeezing it.

“Where is Asher,”

“We just got into a fight, they stormed out. They’ll be back.”

“What was it about?”

“Where dad is.”

“Dad is at headquarters, he couldn’t finish the fight in the first battle under Alexander’s orders to he’s been given stuff to do there.” Dahlia smiled. “I can go get him once I talk to some more people here to find out what’s really going on, need a full sample, not just the control.”

“Got it, mom.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying to check facts is hard when you barely can process words lol


	27. Bombshell News

The midday sky burned brightly as Asher stormed across the village, their fists clenched and a scowl on their face. Their dad couldn’t be dead. That was impossible. He was alive. Asher could feel it in their bones.

They slid down a tree and hid their head in their arms, Dahlia could be right. Dahlia couldn’t be right. Asher didn’t know what to do with the fact that their dad may really be dead. It was in their face and they couldn’t ignore the facts.

They couldn’t keep tears from running out of their eyes at the thought. They heard someone clear their throat and looked up. 

It was a grey cat above them, with white fur on their paws and visible peeking out from under their grey flannel. He had white fur on his chin and white whiskers. His green-blue eyes seated above his grey nose watched them awkwardly while his ears twitched.

“I’m sorry, I felt you were upset so I wanted to ask? What’s wrong?” He shuffled his paws. Asher wiped their eyes.

“No, no I’m fine,” they croaked. The cat sat next to them. 

“I mean, the water leaking from your eyes is telling me otherwise,” he mumbled. “My name’s Jackson. Jackson Valorclaw.” 

“Asher. Asher Bobal.”

“Ah, a friend of Kipo.” He nodded solemnly. “I felt her spirit when she first came. A strong one.”

“You know her?”

“Not personally, no, but a cat from my family can feel auras.” Asher eyed Jackson sceptically. “I’m not crazy, my caregiver, my grand-dam and grand-sire, my great-grand-dam and so on have all had it. And I can feel yours. Tell me, Bobal, what is wrong?”

“My father might be dead,” Asher said carefully, holding back tears again.

“Are you close to him?” Jackson asked. Asher nodded. 

“I’m-” they hesitated. This cat was a stranger, they had never met him before and he sounded a little crazy. He talked about auras and feelings and other things like that. However, something made them seem trustworthy. Reliable. Maybe it was the surname. “He was the first person who I came out to.” Jackson nodded.

“A strong bond.” He looked towards the sky. “I can not personally say I have had my own experience like that, as my caregiver is already ‘out,’ as you humans say and we have fewer issues with stuff like that than you humans do. Coming home with my first mate was just a small warning of not to ruin rent’s nap. We didn’t, and he didn’t last for a long time, maybe a few weeks. But I can understand your pain. I can feel it.”

“I was scared, we had neighbours who would insult some other people in our burrow for being gay. You’d think with the fall of humanity that we’d start accepting each other, even if you are religious.”

“Religious?” Jackson tilted his head.

“Believing in something bigger, or nothing, or something we don’t know. Stuff like that.”

“Us Timbercats don’t have that.”

“I guess it’s a human thing then. But that was their excuse for hating those people.”

“It sounds like scapegoating. Except blaming an entity instead of a being.”

“It is.”  Jackson’s whiskers twitched and he stood up, offering Asher a hand. 

“Something tells me you are needed at the infirmary. Is that where you came from?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, well let me take you there.”

Jackson stood like a guard, his shoulders back and his eyes sharp. There weren’t any issues, he just seemed protective. Reaching the tree, Jackson idled outside.

“If you ever need me, find my tree. Anyone could direct you there. And don’t let my caregiver scare you, they are just paranoid.”

“Thank you,” Asher said quietly. Jackson nodded and left.

Entering the tree Asher paused, locking eyes with their mother.

“Asher? Where were you?” Lily asked.

“Just taking a breather,” Asher sighed. They walked over and hugged Lily, who tightly hugged them back with her free hand.

“I was so worried about my babies, my flower buds. I didn’t know I was wrong. These people enlightened me. They told me the truth.” Asher swallowed.

“Where’s dad?”

“At the human resistance headquarters. He’s been staffed there because he couldn’t kill in a fight.” Asher let out a held breath. “He’s safe, don’t worry sprout.”

“So he’s alive.” Asher shot a look at Dahlia that said: “ _ I was right _ .” Dahlia rolled her eyes.

“Yes. Emelia was very disappointed in him. She said something about ‘weak links break chains’ before she sent me to lead this expedition.”

“That sounds bad,” Dahlia mumbled. Lily nodded. 

“I wish that I could be confident that he’s okay, but it’s been a day since I left. He’s alive, but Emelia is an enforcer.”

“Okay, I’m back! I brought Yum-” Zap faltered, looking at Lily. He slowly backed up and bumped into Yumyan, startling himself.

“Human, your men killed one of my men,” Yumyan growled, stalking forward. Lily pushed herself to be sitting up as far as she could.

“How many humans have you killed over the years?” She hissed. Dahlia put a hand on Lily’s shoulder. 

“Mom, calm down.”

“Mom? That woman is your dam?” Yumyan clarified.

“Yes, I am.”

“I see where you got your fighting spirit, Dahlia.” Yumyan inspected Lily. “Better than Scarlemange, but an act like that is unforgivable.”

“You forgave Hugo,” Asher pointed out.

“Because it was that wrench Emelia’s fault,” Yumyan explained. 

“Emelia tricked her too,” Dahlia added.

“She lied to all the humans. We were told you were a threat. That all mutes were threats.”

“Only if you get on our wrong side,” Yumyan hissed. 

“And she also said the Kipo was unpredictable and out-of-control, especially since she transformed while Emelia was watching. She almost killed Emelia. I was there.”

“You were there?” Asher exclaimed.

“Yes, I was. And-”

“What happened to her and Wolf? Where is she?” Yumyan grabbed the twins by the hem of their shirts and lifted them up.

“Now calm down kittens. Let me do the talking. All of you go to the mess hall.”

“But-”

“Go cubs, you too Zapados.” Zap nodded and hustled the humans and Dave out. Benson took a deep breath.

“Maybe now we’ll get some answers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All my cats are here yayy


	28. Saved by a No-Longer-Baby

Both Hugo and Lio stood deadly still. Lio looked at the large claws in front of him and the smaller ones behind it. A mother deathstalker with nymphs.

And small scratch marks in the exoskeleton. 

He had a flashback. The baby in his arms saving his life with her jaguar paw. 

That was the scorpion. The same scorpion.

It screeched, the babies mimicking the call, then thrust its stinger at Lio.

Then a blur of pink dropped in front of them and batted the stinger away. There were three calls all in sync: “Kipo!”

The mother scorpion hissed at her, and she hissed back louder.

The scorpion tracked Lio and Hugo, and every attempt it made to attack Kipo countered. She grabbed Lio and tossed him up on a balcony, Hugo following after him and then she jumped up too. The scorpion screeched one last time before going to hunt for something else.

Both Lio and Hugo’s chests heaved as the breathed heavily. Kipo hopped through a window and motioned them to follow.

Carefully climbing through the open window which was then shut after them, Lio and Hugo inspected the space. It was just a simple living room, but there was electricity. Kipo hugged Lio tightly.

“Dad! I was so worried about you! I didn’t know what was going on at home because we were here and what are you doing here?” she asked quickly, to which Lio lightly laughed.

“I’ll explain it all.”

“Okay, and Hugo.” She pulled away from Lio, walking up to Hugo and then hugging him. “I’m so happy you’re here.”

“I’m glad you’re alive.” 

Wolf sat with her back leaning against the wall, her eyes trained on Hugo intently. He shifted uncomfortably. 

“So, how did you get here?” Wolf asked sharply. Lio cleared his throat.

“When we left we had every pack except for your packs and the Hummingbombers. We went to the snakes and the wolves, which was uneventful for the most part.”

“Except for the fact that the wolves are scared of you, mutt.” Wolf glared at him.

“Her name is Wolf, and what do you mean they’re scared of her?” Kipo inquired. Hugo let out a breathy laugh.

“Well, she wears a wolf skin, has a deathstalker tail, and has shown herself as more than capable to beat their alphas by herself! I mean, she is the reason I lost my eyes to the city.”

“It wasn’t just me, Kipo was there too.” Kipo nudged her and she sighed. “Along with Benson, Dave, and Mandu.”

“Something about  _ you _ scares them, Wolf. I mean you even scare me slightly!”

“As I should,” she snapped and stood up, wincing slightly. Kipo grabbed her hand and pulled her to sit on a couch, motioning for Lio and Hugo to sit too.

“So, welcome to our home! We’ve been here for like a week.”

“I lived here for three years,” Wolf mumbled. “Plus, we need to get back to the Timbercats as soon as possible.”

“We’re not going anywhere until you’re fully healed,” Kipo insisted. Lio raised an eyebrow.

“You’re hurt?”

“No.”

“Yes, she is.”

“May I ask what happened?” Hugo folded his hands in his lap.

“No.”

“She got shot.”

“How?” Lio jumped in.

“We got attacked by Emelia, and she tried to shoot me. But Wolf took it which was pretty stupid of her.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Wolf mumbled. “The arrow was poisoned. If I hadn’t Kipo would have died.”

“Venomcreeper?” Hugo cocked an eyebrow.

“Yes. In a huge dose.”

“You did save her, but at the risk of becoming a martyr.”

“It would have been worth it.”

“No, it wouldn’t have,” Kipo contradicted. Lio held his hands up.

“Hey, let’s change the subject slightly. I have some medical training. Could I see the damage?” he asked.

“No.”

“Yes, it’s okay. It’s for your sake, Wolf.” Wolf reluctantly stood with Kipo’s help so it didn’t hurt and walked into a different room with Lio. Kipo let out a sigh of relief.

“Now she can get better help than I can give her,” she murmured.

“Kipo, you are very fond of that human,” Hugo observed. Kipo blew out some air.

“Of course, she’s my best friend,” Kipo dismissed. Hugo shook his head. 

“No, I mean fond in the way Song is fond of Lio. You even bicker like them.”

“Me? Having a crush on Wolf? No, no. That’s impossible.”

“It’s more likely than you think. Even a mandrill like me can see it.” She sighed, flopping more into the couch.

“Hugo, what am I supposed to do about it? I thought I was straight and then I met her and we got closer and boom! I like her. Now what?” Hugo shrugged.

“I have no idea. This is territory unknown to me. It would be more beneficial to ask someone with more… experience,” he explained. “But, with you being here, I want to know how did you get here?” 

“The Jaguar. It took us here.” Hugo nodded.

“I see. Did you want it to?”

“I wasn’t in control, I didn’t know what was happening.”

“This does not bode well, but it reminds me of something I remember from my exploration of a young adolescent thrown on this surface. The same creature that DNA was harvested from, its skeleton. I feel that maybe you could connect with it there.”

“Where is it?”

“The Las Vistas Hotel, right next to what you call Cactustown.”

“Oh, yeah! I’ve been there! That was the first place I found mom.”

“Something drew her there, maybe the same reason I will bring you there too.”

“Right now?”

“No, not right now. The mutt still needs you.”

‘Wolf,” Kipo corrected. Hugo rolled his eyes.

“Wolf, mutt, both are canines. Canis Lupus Familiaris and Canis Lupus. However, I guess only one is terrifying.”

“Why are you scared of her?” Hugo shuddered.

“She is cold as a human, only slightly warmer than Emelia. She has a goal and she’ll do anything to achieve it, even at the risk of her own life. That is a determination not even I have.

“What’s her goal?”

“Protecting you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Kipo's admitted her feelings now! Now it's just mutual pining and you all get to suffer <3 Also, season 3 is coming out none of you spoil it for me I'm not watching it yet.


	29. Two Idiots

It wasn’t that Wolf didn’t like Lio, it was she didn’t personally trust him. She knew he was a good guy, and that he had the best intentions at all times, but she kept herself closed off to everyone. That was just how she lived.

So when Kipo asked him to check on Wolf’s injury, she was uncomfortable. She was fine with Kipo checking it because Kipo was Kipo, but Lio was different. In reality, Kipo was the only person Wolf was comfortable with being that close to her. For fleeting moments she was fine with other people like Benson and Dave, but that was it. Being close to her was something reserved only for Kipo.

And Mandu when she thought about it, but Mandu was their six-legged companion. 

Wolf seated herself on the edge of the bed, wrapping her arms tightly around herself. Her new deathstalker staff, which she had decided to name Stalkette, stood in the corner where Kipo had moved it. She wanted to hold it since having a weapon in her grasp made her feel safer no matter the circumstance since she knew how to hold her own in a fight.

Lio came into the room after a few minutes. Wolf had expected it to be only him but still had hoped to see Kipo trailing in after him.

“So, I’m gonna look now, is that okay?” Wolf nodded.

“Yeah, let’s just get this over with.” 

“Okay, show me where it is.” Wolf hesitantly pulled up her shirt slightly to show the wound that was slowly healing. Lio inhaled sharply and looked closer at it. “This is a pretty bad puncture, I can still see a lot of the initial damage that happened when the bolt was shot. It was a bolt, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Just making sure I remembered right. It looks like it was deep, and since it was poisoned you’re lucky to be alive.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Wolf mumbled.

“You really are a survivor, this used to be your house and it’s in deathstalker territory, and I think you said you made it when you were five, right?” Lio asked. 

“Yes, I did.”

“You’re brave. I’m gonna tell Kipo what I think about this and before I forgot I want to thank you for saving my daughter’s life again.”

“All in a day’s work, and I’m going out with you since we have to figure out what we’re doing.” Wolf pushed herself off the bed, ignoring Lio’s offer of his hand to help her. She went ahead of him and sat down quickly next to Kipo where she had been sitting before.

“This is like the doctor’s office, so Doctor Oak, what’s your diagnosis?” Kipo said cheerfully.

“She’s lucky to be alive. The puncture was deep and since it was poisoned too it had better access to the bloodstream.”

“Very lucky indeed,” Hugo agreed.

“She’ll hopefully make a full recovery, but it’s hard to predict since I don’t understand the poison,” Lio assessed. 

“Well, I hope so,” Kipo murmured.

“Yeah, that’d be nice. But the matter at hand is what are we going to do in terms of going back to base? Are we going to leave tonight, if not when are we going to, and what route will we take?”

“I for one think it would be wiser to not leave tonight, as the sun is going to set soon and we all need good rest to get out of there,” Hugo reasoned.

“I agree with that,” Lio said. Kipo tapped her fingers together.

“So with that sorted out, where will everyone sleep? There’s only one bed in this apartment which Wolf and I share. I’m glad to give up my side and just sleep on this couch.”

“Me too,” Wolf added. Hugo shook his head.

“No, you are the hosts and one of you is wounded. Lio and I don’t mind the couches, that is simply that.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, one-hundred percent my darling.” Wolf glared at Hugo at those words and he faltered under her gaze. 

“Then that is figured out, when are we going to go to the Timbercat village again?” Wolf continued.

“When you’re strong enough again,” Kipo said quickly, leaving no room for debate or discussion around the subject.

The next few hours were similar in form, figuring out minor details in a large number of plans until the sun fully set, at which point Kipo stood and stretched.

“I think it’s time to turn in so we can get some rest and figure out more tomorrow.” Everyone nodded in agreement and stood. Bidding each other goodnight, Kipo and Wolf went into their room where Wolf shut the door to be safe. 

When she turned around and saw Kipo laying on her side facing the bathroom already under the blankets, she paused. Everything seemed like something pre-fall, something a couple would do as a nightly routine. Talk to friends and go to bed. It felt domestic if she had to pick a word to describe it, tranquil worked also. She carefully climbed into her side, suppressing her body’s begging to wince when she moved the wrong way and she faced the closet, staring at Stalkette. She focused on that to try and forget the scene she had looked at moments earlier. She was not succeeding very well.

“Hey, Wolf?” Kipo broke the silence in the town, her words sending shockwaves through Wolf’s body,

“Yeah?” she responded quietly.

“You don’t have to keep risking your life for me. It’s stupid, you’re more important,” Kipo mumbled, striking a nerve with Wolf.

“No, you’re more important. It’s not stupid,” she defended.

“Yes, it is.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes,”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“If it’s stupid then I’m stupid because I want to do it,” Wolf blurted it. Kipo paused.

“You want to risk your life? Why?” 

“For you. Only for you,” Wolf whispered. Kipo paused again.

“Then we’re both stupid I guess,” she whispered back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason I didn't upload yesterday was that I was up until two in the morning finishing something that documented all the evidence I had that Wolf has a crush on Kipo, which you can read here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Skc0GT0dPhctZerv9tGAGvQwvbuaJP77y0i2oVydTO0/edit?usp=sharing


	30. Radio Waves

“I can’t believe that was Asher and Dahlia’s mom,” Benson mumbled to Troy.

“I can’t believe she was in the group that attacked Kipo,” Troy responded.

“I can’t believe she’d leave our dad with Emelia,” Asher chimed in.

“I can’t believe you’re all talking about it like this,” Dahlia said. “I’m not surprised, we knew Emelia had all the humans on her side and that mom likes to be the leader.”

“She’s kind of scary,” Benson disclosed. Troy nodded.

“She’s always scared me.

“She’s not that scary,” Dahlia huffed.

“Unless you make her mad,” Asher added.

The group walked close together towards the mess hall, Dave and Mandu leading the way by some distance. Asher and Dahlia still seemed to have a rift between them, but Benson figured it was just the shock of their mom arriving. Troy seemed nervous slightly, his fingers fidgeting quickly. Benson took his hand and shot him a small smile, which was returned.

“You know, with your mom here maybe we can find out what happened to Kipo and Wolf,” Benson said hopefully. 

“Yeah, with them missing along with Hugo and Mr Oak searching for them it’s a lot to worry about,” Asher replied. 

“I’m sure Hugo and Lio will be back soon,” Troy answered half-heartedly. 

“Who knows how far they had to go, or if they even made it,” Dahlia mumbled.

“Why are you being so negative today?” Asher snapped.

“Because what else can I do?”

“You can think positively!”

“Like that helps!” Benson and Troy looked at each other as the twins argued. 

“Should we do something about this?” Benson whispered.

“They’re not normally like this, so probably,” Troy whispered back.

“Okay guys, we’re all stressed out with everything that’s going on, but taking it out on each other isn’t going to solve anything,” Benson said cautiously. The pair turned around to glare at him before Dahlia sighed.

“You’re right, I’m sorry Asher.”

“It’s okay, he’s right. We’re just stressed.”

“We’re all in the same boat, so we got to support each other. We can do this,” Troy encouraged. Dave and Mandu paused and waited for them.

“What is taking you slowpokes so long?” Dave teased.

“We’re just talking about stuff,” Asher responded. Dave smiled.

“Oh, I got plenty of stuff to talk about.”

While they kept walking, talking, and laughing, Benson felt like there were eyes watching them.

The mess hall was not being used for eating at the time, it was full of different groups of cats doing different stuff. Some playing guitars, some practising tricks with their axes with Molly leading, some actually crocheting or knitting. It was a hub of activity any time of day, and the feeling of being watched was lifted off Benson’s shoulders. The group took a seat near the door, their eyes frequently checking the door for either Yumyan or Yumyan and Lily. 

At different points different cats came up and spoke to them, their attention being held for hours by Razzles coming by and rambling on about his glory days. Another point Shoelace came by with his wide eyes.

“I haven’t gotten a chance to ask, do you guys like your blankets? I tried my best to make them!” His eyes begged them for answers.

“Of course we do! They are so nice and warm and they are also so perfect for each of us!” Asher praised.

“I love the colours you chose too,” Dahlia smiled.

“They are the bug’s knees!” Dave grinned. Benson and Troy nodded in agreement. Shoelace happily hopped from foot to foot.

“I’m so glad! They were fun to make and I really liked making them for you! I’m gonna go back to working on my newest project, see you later!” He rushed off, running like he was bouncing on clouds. Asher sighed happily.

“He’s adorable.”

“You only say that because he’s a cat,” Dahlia pointed out.

“He’s also a kid, and he’s such a happy little guy.”

“That’s true.”

They stayed there for another hour or two finding things to talk about, Dave taking up most of the room for speaking by tales that took place over his two-hundred years of living. Stories Benson had heard before, but that encaptured the other three so he didn’t say anything.

It was a strange rag-tag team they were, the hero and her partner in crime missing in action, their family looking for them, leaving the less street-smart people behind. It didn’t bother him, because without them more humans could have died at the paws of Timbercats that felt severely threatened. They saved Lily, who without them being there almost certainly would have been killed.

Dave was standing on the table at this point, using Mandu as a prop or something of the like, telling the story of the Newton Wolves. Asher and Dahlia looked completely engaged. Troy elbowed Benson and looked at his quizzically. Benson mouthed “ _ it’s true _ ” to which Troy nodded and looked back at the display. Dave was finishing up the story when a cat came running in, shouting jumbled words. Molly walked up and slapped the cat.

“Get a grip! Words, Kia! What’s going on.” The grey cat who Benson now recognized took a paw off her arm, showing red staining her fur.

“A human! In the woods! I didn’t even get to speak before they attacked. They cut my axe in half, I had to use my paws. They got this in on me but I got some good swipes across their face.”

“Are they gone?” Molly growled.

“They ran away, I figured it wasn’t worth it to chase them. It could have been an ambush, or a trick to completely leave my post. Zuzu is holding it now.”

“Zapados should be in his tree since Yumyan is currently doing something in the infirmary. Go see him, good job.” Kia nodded and left the tree, the air filled with new tension. A few moments later, Yumyan came in with Lily at his side.

“Yumyan, Kia-Lou just came in with a report.”

“I heard. This is not good.”

“Well, obviously. A human made it that close to the actual village,” Molly said. Yumyan shook his head.

‘No, we do not have much time. Rally our troops, we have to be on edge.”

“Why? What’s going on?” Dahlia asked. 

“Emelia sent that squad to test the waters. She knows what’s going on here, and she’s-”

Lily’s words were cut out by a loud piercing sound that caused all the cats to cover their ears.


	31. The Offical Call

The screeching was louder than the last time Benson had heard it, where last time it had sounded like it was coming out of a pair of headphones that were over his ears this time it sounded like it was coming out of a speaker that was pressed against his face. It wasn’t debilitating, however, unlike it was to the mutes. Benson felt bad for them, hearing the yowling, squealing, screaming and clicking coming from them. Lily cupped a hand to her mouth.

“This is what I was going to warn you about! Follow me!” She motioned them with a hand and ran out of the mess hall and through the woods, the humans on her tail. They were running towards the noise, which bounced off the trees around them. Her jade eyes seemed to be both full of worry and determination as they weaved through the forest around them. 

“Emelia sent a few different people to come see what was going on here! That cat ran into the last scout, and the last scout must have heard that half the human team wasn’t here, which was the biggest threat! That noise only affects mutes, so us humans are immune, along with-” A thunderous roar echoed across the land, shaking the trees. “Half mutes!” Lily finished. Even with the tall trees in the way, Benson could catch glimpses of Song, who seemed to be greatly struggling with something. They had to keep running, their legs carrying them as fast as they could until they spotted a small encampment. 

There were sown tents and makeshift walls, all the humans were missing from the camp. A few meters away, Song had collapsed onto her hands, her eyes focused angrily on Emelia, who was standing on a rock saying things that couldn’t be made out. The entire army had their crossbows and swords focused on Song seemingly waiting for Emelia’s word. Lily ran through the encampment and again beckoned for the kids to follow. 

“In that tent there!” She still had to shout over the loud waves. “That’s where the device is! Go quickly! I have to stop them from hurting the Mega Monkey!” Before anyone could say anything, she was gone.

The kids crept into the tent and Benson immediately recognized it on a table in the corner. He pointed it out to the others and they all approached it.

“How do we turn it off?” Troy shouted.

“I don’t know! Maybe we should keep trying buttons?” Benson shouted back.

“That could make things worse!” Dahlia pointed out

“What other choice do we have?” Asher countered. 

Benson felt sweat forming on his forehead as he pressed different buttons, some changing the sound, others making it louder, one or two making it quieter, but he couldn’t find the off button. They all started pressing buttons, amplifying the effects of chaos Benson had been struggling with. Eventually, before Benson was about to press another button, a human shadow was cast through the doorway. 

They all turned to face the person and inched together when they met Emelia’s burning gaze. She took slow steps towards them.

“You brats!” she screamed. “You are sabotaging the chance for humanity to survive! This is the only way! That half-breed will kill us all!”

Dahlia reached over and ripped the machine from Benson’s hands, raising it as high as she could over her head before slamming it onto the ground with all her strength and stepping on the shattered sparking pieces. The machine’s dying breath of out-of-tune notes stood between the teens and Emelia, who was fingering her hoister.

“The only half-breed here is you,” Dahlia spat. “Half-demon, half-satan.” 

“Go, go, go, go, go!” Troy repeated, body-slamming a hole into the tent as Emelia charged at them. Benson helped him up as the four ran across the encampment, Emelia shouting different curses and slurs as she pursued them. While Dahlia and Troy both responded with things twice as bad as what Emelia said, Asher and Benson held the responsibility of dragging them out of the camp. 

On the outside, Song had managed to stand back up, Lily had disappeared and the humans seemed confused as the what was happening. Song moved slower than normal, but she still reached down in time to put out her palm to lift the kids up, putting them on her shoulder. While she walked away, Benson could still hear Emelia shouting.

“I should have killed you, Song! I should have killed you the moment I knew about that cat-baby! I should have killed you every single chance I had! I should have killed your jaguar. Your experiment succeeding was only because you had Lio, because you’re a failure! That’s why you’re a monkey because you never evolved! And your daughter is just like you!”

Dahlia and Troy continued slurring harsh insults while Asher and Benson tried to talk to Song. Benson rested against her neck and Asher stood next to him. Song herself didn’t respond to Emelia, but her eyes were sad and half-lidded.

“Emelia is crazy, and a literal white witch and I do not mean good,” Benson assured her. Asher nodded.

“He’s right, Mrs Oak. Kipo and you are both the most amazing advancements in science ever. Only a true genius could have made something like that happen. Only two true geniuses.” She smiled and brought up a finger to rub the duo’s heads. After Troy and Dahlia had enough of lashing insults Emelia’s general direction as she turned into a speck dotting the landscape they both join the other two.

“You also saved us there, Mrs Oak. Emelia probably would have eventually caught up to us,” Troy added.

“This isn’t the first time you’ve saved us either, remember the coronation because I sure do!” 

“I remember when she saved all the humans and also all the mutes!” Benson sat down, listening to the twins recounting that adventure. They had made the fight even again, but for how long? Troy sat down next to him and wrapped an arm around him.

“Thanks for helping me up back there,” he said. Benson nodded.

“I couldn’t just leave you there, and you had just broken through a tent to let us all get out! I also would have done it for anyone, but you have special priority.”

“Is that so? Why?” Troy teased and Benson blushed. The twins were still absorbed in their conversation so he mumbled quietly.

“Because you’re my boyfriend.” Troy laughed his laugh that Benson loved.

Even though they had almost been caught and had experienced Emelia’s insanity first hand, they were still all enjoying themselves on the trip back. Benson found it amazing. 

When they did make it back, they found all the Timbercats huddled together. Song carefully picked them up and put them on the ground, before going to sit down nearby. Yumyan turned to face them, Lily by his side.

“The heroes again return triumphant. While you were there, we had a surprise drop out of the sky.” He snapped and the Timbercats cleared a path to show what they were huddled around, a single purple Hummingbomber that was severely wounded. An arrow was lodged in its wing with cuts all over its chest and talons. It was breathing heavily.

“The humans on their way here, they took down a group of us that was checking the situation. I was the only one that made it, I went to the boss and he sent me here when I got attacked again. He sends his formal apologies and wants to join your alliance.”

“This is just in time too, because I think it’s time we officially go to war.” Yumyan held out his paw, which a cat placed a horn in that he blew into.

“Bring me Pierre,” he commanded and two Timbercats led the flea to him, his leash already attached.

“And Shoelace, here is your right of passage. Go gather the other packs and tell them it is time we all unite,” Yumyan said softly, handing the reins to the calico.

“Me? Okay! I won’t let you down!”

“I’ll go with him!” Asher shouted, drawing the attention to them. “In case some of the packs hesitate, I can try and convince them.”

“Then saddle up.” Some cats helped the cat and the human climb onto the bug, then handed them each an axe and a pack full of supplies.

“Tell them there is no time to waste! This is the third attack we have faced and I doubt the fourth is very far.”

“Yes, Lord Yumyan!” Shoelace flicked Pierre’s reins, the bug leaping through the air with the two riders holding on for dear life. Yumyan turned back to the crowd.

“Timbercats, this is no time to fail! Wield your axes courageously, and be ready at every moment! When the call comes, report to your generals immediately! Assembly dismissed!”


	32. Regrouping

Wolf didn’t like relying on other people, she also didn’t like being a burden. Which is what led to her being up before sunrise, sitting in an empty living room that was only lit by the moon. Kipo had talked to her about electricity and how it worked, but Wolf didn’t trust it. Sitting in the room by herself felt so much different. With Kipo, it felt warm and right. Even with Hugo and Lio there it still felt like a space to relax in, as she had been told it was originally used as.

By herself, it felt cold. Lonely, going back to sleepless nights after the betrayal where she would pace around the space because she felt like any moment they’d be back, growling and howling and she’d have nowhere to run. She’d be trapped. Back as a young girl where she’d cry silently at night because she was alone, and she always would be alone.

Now she wasn’t alone, but moments like these made her feel like she was.

She could slip out into the night, disappear and go back to surviving by herself. Her injuries wouldn’t slow anyone down, and she wouldn’t have to feel like at any moment she could be left again by her pack.

But Kipo made her stay, not by force and not even with her knowledge, Wolf stayed for her. To be able to protect her, to be able to comfort her, to be able to keep her company. She knew Kipo wouldn’t leave her for anything in the world, that was just the kind of person she was. That by itself was a comforting thought. 

Lio and Hugo had gone next door because Kipo remembered that the room next to them had three beds in total, and going there was figured to be a better idea so there were no sudden fights between Wolf and Hugo after Kipo and Lio noticed they had a mutual distaste for each other. Wolf heard a door open behind her, the door in the kitchen. She listened closer and heard the footsteps which she observed had a different weight to them than a human would have. She let out a sigh.

“I know you’re there, monkey,” she said quietly.

“Mutt,” Hugo responded. She didn’t turn to face him, but she knew how he walked and composed himself.

“What do you want?” she asked. Hugo cleared his throat.

“I want to propose peace between us. You make it clear that you harbour hard feelings towards me for my past actions and I am not fond of you either. But we have one bit of common ground. Kipo,” he spoke in a way that reminded Wolf of his time as a tyrant, calculated and emotionless. She looked at him.

“What are you saying?”

“We both care deeply for Kipo. She is my baby sister, and I do not understand you’re relationship to her, only that it is sacred to you. We both want what is best for her. Therefore, I think we, particularly you, should cease all hostility between us and get along, for Kipo’s sake.”

“Fine. But if you make one wrong move, I will not hesitate to kill you,” she threatened and he chuckled.

“You could have killed me already, but you won’t. Because Kipo cares about me. And I won’t kill you because she cares about you.”

“Like you could anyways,” Wolf snorted and took a few threatening steps towards Hugo. “But as you said, if it’s for Kipo’s sake, I’ll end you.”

“Don’t count on it, I’m a changed mandrill. Save the bloodshed for Doctor Emelia.”

“That I can do.” Hugo nodded and turned to leave before pausing

“Your feelings are as obvious to see as a flame is to a moth.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” He didn’t respond, instead, he left, closing the door behind himself.

Wolf lingered for a moment in the now empty room while the feeling slowly returned. She didn’t like it, so she went back to bed, careful not to disturb Kipo who was still fast asleep.

Kipo was the one who woke her up in the morning, gently shaking her until she opened an eye.

“Come on Wolf, it’s daytime! Everyone else is up.” Wolf mumbled some incoherent words in response. “What was that?”

“I said fine, I’ll get up.” She stayed true to her word, standing up seconds later with less difficulty than the day before. Kipo smiled and hugged her in excitement.

“You’re getting better!” Wolf chuckled weakly.

“You do this every morning, yes Kipo I am getting better.”

“I know I’m just so happy! There was a point where I didn’t even know if you were ever going to wake up and now you’re almost completely recovered! I think.”

“Let’s hope so.”

In the living room, Lio and Hugo sat talking quietly to each other when they went in. The room felt bright and warm which Wolf chalked up to Kipo being in there. 

“She’s getting better dad!” Kipo smiled.

“I would hope so!” Lio responded. Wolf sat in her couch corner waiting for Kipo to join her like she normally did. 

“If she is getting better, perhaps we could get going? We ourselves have been gone for days and you two have been gone for what I would guess is about two weeks, more or less,” Hugo suggested. Kipo hesitated.

“But Wolf is still recovering, I don’t want to risk making it worse.”

“Chances are that it wouldn’t get any worse really, maybe slow down the time it takes to fully recover but nothing drastic would happen,” Lio reasoned. Kipo sat down in her spot and looked to Wolf.

“What do you think we should do?” she asked quietly.

“We should go, if anything bad happens and they need you, they have no idea where you are. I say we go back.” Kipo leaned her head back.

“Okay, if you think so then I do too. I just need to pick up some things.” Wolf followed Kipo out, going to pick up the staff that Kipo had given her. Kipo beat her to it, her paw carefully picking it up and handing it to her. “Wolf, promise me someday we’ll come back here?” Wolf blinked in confusion.

“Here? Why? There’s nothing special here.” Kipo fidgeted nervously.

“I don’t know, call me crazy but this place feels right.” 

“Then we can come back here someday.”

“Really?” Wolf shrugged.

“Why not? It’s just right now we have a fight to win.” Kipo pulled Wolf into another hug.

“You’re the best, you know that?”

“You like to tell me that a lot.”

Holding only Stalkette, Wolf and Kipo returned to the living room where the other two were waiting. 

“We can go out the door downstairs, it’s closer to the exit than the window,” Kipo pointed out and Hugo nodded.

“Lead the way.”

She did lead the way, sneaking them past the mother deathstalker and through the skull. Kipo murmured some words under her breath and suddenly there was a jaguar, who laid down on her stomach to allow the others the climb on. Wolf climbed on first, sitting as close as she could to Kipo’s head and Lio came after her, then Hugo last. Once Kipo was sure they were all on, she bounded towards the distant forest.

The wind blew Wolf’s hood off but that didn’t necessarily bother her, it wasn’t freezing just brisk. She did keep a hand in Kipo’s fur, stroking it the way she would Mandu. The journey that normally would have taken days took only a few hours at most, but Wolf saw enough to make her concerned as landscapes flew by. A ruined group of tents, a few unmoving Hummingbombers, and disturbed land by something large. Coming to the Timbercats, Song saw them first and started hooting happily, Kipo meowing in response. It seemed like they understood each other. She knelt down again to allow her passengers to disembark before starting to playfully bat at her mother’s hands, it was a sight to behold. A crowd started to gather and Yumyan approached in disbelief.

“I had fully begun to believe you had all died,” he said in astonishment. Wolf shook her head.

“Almost, but no.”

“You could not have returned at a more important time, war has officially started and we need all hands on deck-” he was interrupted by some smaller figures running by him, who came and hugged the team.

“We were so worried!”

“What happened!”

“Are you all okay?”

Along with excited squealing coming from the creature headbutting Wolf’s leg. She picked up Mandu and pet her gently. Yumyan cleared his throat.

“As I was saying, we need all hands on deck and all eyes on watch.”

“We will be ready almost immediately, but I do have to take Kipo somewhere first. Something I believe will help her control her jaguar side with more consistency.” Wolf looked at Hugo in shock and anger, but Yumyan had a different response.

“Anything to help her,” he declared and Hugo bowed slightly. Kipo looked confused at the exchange but still, she allowed Hugo back on, but before leaving she lowered her face to look at Wolf with the same worry she had been.

“I’ll be fine Kipo, don’t worry.” She placed a hand on Kipo’s nose and she let out a soft purr, nudged Wolf with her snout and then ran off towards whatever destination her and Hugo had. Wolf took in a deep breath and turned to the community of cats.

“Where do you need me most?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I kind of want to reiterate that I am not watching Season 3 until I finish this story, and I don't want any spoilers. I've been trying to avoid them so I just wanted to repeat it to make sure. Thank you!


	33. Old Kings

“The Las Vistas hotel, that’s where we’ll find him,” Hugo said as they ran through the desert. It had only been an hour and they were almost there. Kipo meowed in question. “The jaguar your DNA is from, don’t you remember us talking about it?” She nodded. “Lovely, we just have to go inside.”

Kipo’s tail swished back and forth as they approached Cactustown. It was daytime, so the snakes were asleep. She didn’t really like how the sand felt on her paws, she could feel every individual grain. She was tired, she had been mega for quite a while.

They entered the cacti forest, the giant gap made by a creature before her and Song directly leading to the hotel. She stretched, lowering down so Hugo could get off before changing back, stretching out and yawning. Hugo beckoned her to follow and went inside the hotel. The lobby was large and mostly destroyed, the wall behind it being broken to bits. A skeleton was settled in the hole in the wall, the way it died was unclear. Kipo took a few steps forward.

“This is the Mega Jaguar?” she asked softly. Behind her, Hugo nodded. 

“He is long deceased. Far longer than either of us have been alive. Be careful, there is so little we know about him.”

“What am I supposed to do?” Hugo shrugged.

“Whatever feels right.” Kipo reached a hand out and placed it where the jaguar’s nose would be. Around her, the world shifted, she was in a grayscale version of the land she knew. In front of her lay the Mega Jaguar, its eyes closed and its breathing slow. As if sensing her presence, it awoke. Vivid pink eyes inspected her carefully, the only colour in a bleak world.

“ _Who are you?_ ” The words echoed in her mind and startled her. She stared blankly for a moment before recovering.

“Kipo. Kipo Oak,” she stammered. The cat narrowed its eyes.

“ _I am Torvald. What are you doing here?_ ”

“I don’t know. I touched your skull and I ended up here somehow.”

“ _This is my permanent resting place. My physical form may be gone but my soul remains. This is my home. Now, a final question for you is how did you get here?”_

 _“_ I don’t know again. Same as earlier, I’m just here.” He studied her again and his eyes focused on her paw.

“ _You are no normal human._ ”

“I’m half-mute.” The jaguar’s eyes widened.

“ _Is your mute half jaguar?_ ” Kipo nodded. “ _I remember feeling something prick my remains years ago. Could have that been you humans?_ ”

“Probably,” Kipo admitted. Torvald bowed his head.

“ _If it is from my blood then it is family. You are my daughter._ ”

“Well, it’s kind of like sometimes I share my body with a mega jaguar. Sometimes the other one is in control,” Kipo explained.

“ _More explanation of what I sense even from here. That who you share your form with is my daughter, and you are as well._ ”

“What’s your daughter’s name?” He thought for a moment.

“ _She says it’s Yrsa._ ”

“You can hear her?”

“ _She lets me._ ”

“That’s why I could come here, that’s why I can hear you!” Torvald nodded.

“ _Yes. But I also sense that you are not completely oblivious to why you are here._ ” Kipo looked away.

“I want to be able to control my powers,” she admitted.

“ _Trust in yourself and trust in Yrsa, neither of you shall ever act in the other’s disinterest. Things I could do you will learn with time. You are only a cub. It took me decades to come to full strength. You should return to your realm._ ” He closed his eyes to return to sleep but Kipo spoke up.

“Wait! Does Yrsa like sharing a body with me? Does she know what I want to do and is this unfair to her? And most people told me that mega-mutes were mindless giants, but you can think?” Torvald was silent for a moment.

“ _She says that you are in control and she will only act in emergencies, she prefers it that way. She doesn’t think it’s unfair, just fate. And we can think, but we cannot understand your words._ ”

“Then how can you understand me?”

“ _I can only guess that I can understand because you are my daughter and share blood with me, making you a jaguar too. And this world is not real, just my afterlife how I am spending it. Now you should return to your own world._ ”

“Will I ever be able to return someday?” Torvald made a sound that mimicked laughter, his deep voice rumbling in his chest.

“ _You both spoke at the same time using the same words. If you ever must, you may. But understand that one day you will return to me permanently. Enjoy the sun, do not waste what is precious._ ” 

Just as suddenly as she arrived, she was back in her own colourful world. She drew her hand back and looked at it. She felt no different, but more at peace just knowing more about herself. Hugo looked at her curiously.

“You have been standing there for ages, what occurred?” Kipo turned and smiled.

“A little bit of a history lesson.”

“So something did happen? Fascinating.”

“You didn’t know what would happen?” Hugo shook his head.

“This is not science at work, this is something more. Something that cannot be predicted or understood, something that fits the classification of a fairytale.”

“Magic?” Hugo tapped his finger against his chin.

“Perhaps,” he concluded. “Now do you feel ready to go back or would you rather stay a little longer?”

“We have people who need our help.” Kipo went outside and transformed quickly, still not going fully mega but becoming a jaguar. She looked proudly at Hugo who had the same expression. She used her tail to toss Hugo up and run under him, him landing softly in her fur. He laughed.

“Be careful now! You are strong.” Kipo gave her own fanged grin and bounded back to her people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there is some sort of magic or supernatural in this story, I don't think it qualifies as a whole different AU but just my own interpretation or addition of unique elements.


	34. Catching up

Kipo woke up due to a beam of sunlight that came through the single window in their room. She pushed herself up out of the bed and wasn’t surprised to see Wolf gone from her own bed. She walked out of the tree and wandered through the village that had only a few cats mulling about. She went to a place she knew would have someone familiar to her. 

Song was always on the outskirts of the village since she didn’t have to worry as much about accidentally hurting a smaller creature. Kipo came a bit closer to see if Song was awake, finding she wasn’t she kept her distance. She could see Lio on her shoulder also asleep and Kipo smiled to herself. It was sweet how much they loved each other.

She continued checking out the area and eventually on the other side of the village she spotted a speck of blue up on a shady branch. She brought her paws out and jumped onto the tree, digging her claws into the bark. She climbed up carefully and quietly and eventually made it to the branch. She retracted her paws and sat down.

“Good morning, Wolf.” Wolf jumped slightly and turned around to face Kipo.

“Hey, Kipo,” she mumbled.

“What are you doing all the way out here? Also, why are you up in this tree?” she asked.

“I just like it up here.”

“Why?”

“Trees are safe. It’s hard to see someone in them from any direction. They also give shelter.”

“Right, survival,” Kipo muttered. “Are you ever going to come down from this tree?”

“Why wouldn’t I? I have stuff to do.” Kipo smiled.

“Let me help you down then!”

“Wait, what-” Wolf was cut off by Kipo grabbing her and jumping out of the tree, landing on her back paws. Wolf was breathing heavily and gripping Kipo’s collar. “Kipo!” Kipo laughed.

“I helped you down!” She set Wolf on her feet and gave her an innocent smile. Wolf let out a huff.

“Almost gave me a heart attack,” Wolf grumbled and brushed off her pelt. 

“Oh come on! It was fine!” Wolf rolled her eyes. She started walking off before stiffening. After a few seconds, she jumped back and brandished her deathstalker staff. The creature at the other end held his hands up in surrender.

“Sheathe thine weapons, fair warrior! It is simply a humble Theaotter and his mate.” Wolf drew back, stepping beside Kipo.

“Puck! Jamack! It’s nice to see you guys!”

“I wish it could be in better circumstances.” Puck folded his hands. “We come with a warning.”

“A warning?” Wolf asked.

“The humans,” Jamack stated. “We saw a lot of them. I’d like to say it was all of them coming this way. It doesn’t look good.”

“All of them?”

“This is it,” Wolf murmured. She turned and walked into the village without saying another word.

“Where are the other Theaotters?” Kipo questioned.

“We have split to warn other mutes, the other Theaotters are warning smaller mute packs while we came to warn you,” Puck explained.

“You guys should talk to Yumyan, I have to go check on Wolf.” Kipo ran in Wolf’s direction, leaving the two to try and find Yumyan on their own.

Kipo eventually did find Wolf, who was sitting on Kipo’s bed in their tree. She was crying, tears running down her face. She didn’t react to Kipo coming in or sitting next to her, her eyes remained fixated on the floor.

“Wolf, what’s wrong?” 

“I can’t protect you,” she whispered.

“You don’t have to protect me! That’s not an issue.” Wolf shook her head.

“You don’t understand. I can’t protect you from an army. I can’t fight an army when I don’t have all my strength.”

“That’s fine! I can protect you! We’ll be okay!” Wolf stood from the bed.

“No! You don’t understand!” she shouted. “I can’t protect you! If I can’t protect you, you could get hurt! And if you get hurt and you end up dying, I couldn’t-” she let out a sob and took a shaky breath. “I couldn’t live without- Kipo, I-” Kipo didn’t need her to finish her sentence or know what she was trying to say, she pulled her into a tight hug.

“We’ll be okay, Wolf,” she reassured. Wolf buried her face in Kipo’s shoulder. “We’ll be okay because we have each other. We have each other’s backs.” Wolf stayed in her position for a bit before pulling back and wiping her eyes.

“How do you stay so calm in all this?” she asked.

“Because you’re always so calm when I need you,” Kipo replied. 

“I think I should go warn some of the other generals,” Wolf muttered. She idled in the doorway briefly. “I’ll meet you in the dining hall in two hours, okay?”

“Yeah.” Wolf cloak flowed behind her and immediately after she left the tree, Hugo walked into the room. He glanced in Wolf’s direction then looked back at Kipo.

“That was something,” he said under his breath and straightened his back. “I couldn’t help but overhear what was occurring, and if this is true we should probably go see our father.” Kipo nodded in agreement. He waved her forward to lead the way and they went down to Song and Lio.

Both were now awake, Lio leaning against Song’s leg and singing to her. He stopped when he saw Kipo and Hugo.

“What’s up?” he asked and Hugo cleared his throat.

“Kipo has some information that is grim.” Lio frowned.

“What is it?”

“Emelia has everyone in an army, and they’re coming this way.”

“I knew it was coming eventually.” He stood up and placed a hand on both of their shoulders. “You both grew up suddenly. I’m not looking at my kids anymore, I’m looking at two grown individuals.” Kipo hugged Lio and dragged Hugo in too. Lio turned to face Song with them both in his arms.

“We did it, Song. We have the future in our arms and they’re ready to take the world on.” Song cooed.

“This was only possible because of you, mom,” Kipo complimented.

“You gave us this, mother,” Hugo quietly said. Song’s keen ears picked up on it, and there was a flash of light. Then instead of a monkey, there was a woman standing in front of them.

“Guess who’s back,” she said shakily.   



	35. Growing Up and Shrinking Down

Kipo woke up due to a beam of sunlight that came through the single window in their room. She pushed herself up out of the bed and wasn’t surprised to see Wolf gone from her own bed. She walked out of the tree and wandered through the village that had only a few cats mulling about. She went to a place she knew would have someone familiar to her. 

Song was always on the outskirts of the village since she didn’t have to worry as much about accidentally hurting a smaller creature. Kipo came a bit closer to see if Song was awake, finding she wasn’t she kept her distance. She could see Lio on her shoulder also asleep and Kipo smiled to herself. It was sweet how much they loved each other.

She continued checking out the area and eventually on the other side of the village she spotted a speck of blue up on a shady branch. She brought her paws out and jumped onto the tree, digging her claws into the bark. She climbed up carefully and quietly and eventually made it to the branch. She retracted her paws and sat down.

“Good morning, Wolf.” Wolf jumped slightly and turned around to face Kipo.

“Hey, Kipo,” she mumbled.

“What are you doing all the way out here? Also, why are you up in this tree?” she asked.

“I just like it up here.”

“Why?”

“Trees are safe. It’s hard to see someone in them from any direction. They also give shelter.”

“Right, survival,” Kipo muttered. “Are you ever going to come down from this tree?”

“Why wouldn’t I? I have stuff to do.” Kipo smiled.

“Let me help you down then!”

“Wait, what-” Wolf was cut off by Kipo grabbing her and jumping out of the tree, landing on her back paws. Wolf was breathing heavily and gripping Kipo’s collar. “Kipo!” Kipo laughed.

“I helped you down!” She set Wolf on her feet and gave her an innocent smile. Wolf let out a huff.

“Almost gave me a heart attack,” Wolf grumbled and brushed off her pelt. 

“Oh come on! It was fine!” Wolf rolled her eyes. She started walking off before stiffening. After a few seconds, she jumped back and brandished her deathstalker staff. The creature at the other end held his hands up in surrender.

“Sheathe thine weapons, fair warrior! It is simply a humble Theaotter and his mate.” Wolf drew back, stepping beside Kipo.

“Puck! Jamack! It’s nice to see you guys!”

“I wish it could be in better circumstances.” Puck folded his hands. “We come with a warning.”

“A warning?” Wolf asked.

“The humans,” Jamack stated. “We saw a lot of them. I’d like to say it was all of them coming this way. It doesn’t look good.”

“All of them?”

“This is it,” Wolf murmured. She turned and walked into the village without saying another word.

“Where are the other Theaotters?” Kipo questioned.

“We have split to warn other mutes, the other Theaotters are warning smaller mute packs while we came to warn you,” Puck explained.

“You guys should talk to Yumyan, I have to go check on Wolf.” Kipo ran in Wolf’s direction, leaving the two to try and find Yumyan on their own.

Kipo eventually did find Wolf, who was sitting on Kipo’s bed in their tree. She was crying, tears running down her face. She didn’t react to Kipo coming in or sitting next to her, her eyes remained fixated on the floor.

“Wolf, what’s wrong?” 

“I can’t protect you,” she whispered.

“You don’t have to protect me! That’s not an issue.” Wolf shook her head.

“You don’t understand. I can’t protect you from an army. I can’t fight an army when I don’t have all my strength.”

“That’s fine! I can protect you! We’ll be okay!” Wolf stood from the bed.

“No! You don’t understand!” she shouted. “I can’t protect you! If I can’t protect you, you could get hurt! And if you get hurt and you end up dying, I couldn’t-” she let out a sob and took a shaky breath. “I couldn’t live without- Kipo, I-” Kipo didn’t need her to finish her sentence or know what she was trying to say, she pulled her into a tight hug.

“We’ll be okay, Wolf,” she reassured. Wolf buried her face in Kipo’s shoulder. “We’ll be okay because we have each other. We have each other’s backs.” Wolf stayed in her position for a bit before pulling back and wiping her eyes.

“How do you stay so calm in all this?” she asked.

“Because you’re always so calm when I need you,” Kipo replied. 

“I think I should go warn some of the other generals,” Wolf muttered. She idled in the doorway briefly. “I’ll meet you in the dining hall in two hours, okay?”

“Yeah.” Wolf cloak flowed behind her and immediately after she left the tree, Hugo walked into the room. He glanced in Wolf’s direction then looked back at Kipo.

“That was something,” he said under his breath and straightened his back. “I couldn’t help but overhear what was occurring, and if this is true we should probably go see our father.” Kipo nodded in agreement. He waved her forward to lead the way and they went down to Song and Lio.

Both were now awake, Lio leaning against Song’s leg and singing to her. He stopped when he saw Kipo and Hugo.

“What’s up?” he asked and Hugo cleared his throat.

“Kipo has some information that is grim.” Lio frowned.

“What is it?”

“Emelia has everyone in an army, and they’re coming this way.”

“I knew it was coming eventually.” He stood up and placed a hand on both of their shoulders. “You both grew up suddenly. I’m not looking at my kids anymore, I’m looking at two grown individuals.” Kipo hugged Lio and dragged Hugo in too. Lio turned to face Song with them both in his arms.

“We did it, Song. We have the future in our arms and they’re ready to take the world on.” Song cooed.

“This was only possible because of you, mom,” Kipo complimented.

“You gave us this, mother,” Hugo quietly said. Song’s keen ears picked up on it, and there was a flash of light. Then instead of a monkey, there was a woman standing in front of them.

“Guess who’s back,” she said shakily.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my car for laying on my keyboard while I was typing, my computer for dying while I was trying to upload, and my other cat for walking in front of my face while I was trying to upload from my phone. Jamack/Puck is there a bit at the suggestion of my sister from the begining of writing this story. Thank you all for reading this far and it is bittersweet to say that we are soon coming to the climax and further end of this story.


	36. The Calm Before the Storm

“S-Song?” Lio stammered. She smiled weakly.

“In the human flesh,” she joked. 

“I can’t believe it.”

“Neither can I. But it’s not the first time something impossible has happened to us.” She stumbled forward and caught herself, placing a hand on both Hugo’s and Lio’s shoulders. “After all, we have these two. A half-mute heroine and a mandrill king.”

“You’ve always done the impossible, Song,” Hugo affirmed. Song looked to Kipo.

“And you, I’m so proud of you. You saved everyone. You saved me, you saved your dad, you saved Hugo, you saved all mutes and humans. I can’t believe I’m so lucky to have you as my daughter.”

“Well, you kind of made me this way,” Kipo chuckled awkwardly. Song brushed some hair out of her face.

“Yes, I put the mutagen in, but you used it. You used it for good.”

“And I used it for bad,” Hugo mumbled. Song frowned.

“You got hurt, Hugo. You were lost and you felt betrayed that you were alone. You did what you had to in your mind to survive. I don’t hold that against you. Your heart is good, you were hurt and yet you grew to be you again. My son and daughter, my kids, I’m so proud of both of you.” She hugged them tightly, both of them returning the hug quickly. “I love you both,” she murmured.

Lio joined the hug too, and their family felt whole for the first time ever.

“If I can freely turn jaguar, can you freely turn monkey too?” Kipo asked.

“I don’t know. This was my first time ever going mega and it happened by accident after being half-mute for only a few months. I didn’t have any guide or any time to prepare for it. I was stuck for thirteen years, but now that I know how to turn back, that my family is my key, I think I can.”

“Don’t overdo it Song, it’s risky because we don’t understand it.” 

“I’m not worried about it, because I know how to control the monkey and I was finally taller than you.”

“Can we go to the main hall? I want you to meet everyone as a person, just so they don’t think you’re a spy.”

“That’s a good idea, let’s go.” Kipo grabbed Song’s hand and practically dragged her across the village, Lio and Hugo having to run in order to catch up.

The hall had some people in it, Lily and Dahlia playing chess with a board they had made quickly. Dave sat nearby, trying to advise each player on what moves they should make. Roberto watched intently, staying silent as both people made moves. Kipo came up to them quickly.

“Guys, I have someone you have to meet, this is my mom.” Song waved shyly.

“My name is Song, I’m Lio’s wife,” she introduced. Lily reached a hand out to shake Song’s.

“Lily Bobal, mother of two of your daughter’s best friends.” Song turned to Roberto who had also offered his hand.

“I’m Roberto Ortiz, father of another one of Kipo’s close friends.” 

“I’m Dahlia Bobal, and I’m one of the aforementioned best friends.”

“And I’m Dave! Mute bug with a lot of life experience.”

“It’s so nice to meet you all as me, this is more personal.” She sat down on the bench, leaving room for everyone else to sit as well. Lio sat on her right, in between Song and Dahlia. Hugo sat on her left and Kipo sat beside him on the end, space still next to her for someone else to sit.

“So, where is Troy?” Kipo asked. Roberto shrugged.

“I have no idea, he has been out and about almost constantly with his Benson.”

“Not surprising,” Dahlia said, moving a bishop to knock out one of Lily’s castles. “He really likes him.”

“That’s why people date,” Lily explained, taking a knight to Dahlia’s bishop. Kipo kept an eye on the door as she tended to whenever Wolf was somewhere else. Eventually, Benson and Troy came in together, indiscreetly holding hands. They sat next to Roberto.

“So what are we doing?” Troy asked.

“I’m introducing myself formally. I’m Kipo’s mom.” Song shook both their hands before they introduced themselves.

“I’m Benson.”

“I’m Troy.”

“I’m heard a lot about you both, and I remember you too. Along with you Dahlia, you and Troy have quite a mouth on you.” Dahlia blushed slightly.

“She deserved it,” Dahlia defended. 

“Where were you guys?” Kipo inquired.

“Just hanging out,” Benson said. 

Silent footsteps came to their table, softly seating themself next to Kipo. Wolf didn’t say anything, just resting next to her. Song noticed her.

“Wolf, right? I’m Song.”

“Hi,” Wolf mumbled. Song raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything more.

“Are you okay?” Kipo whispered to her. Wolf pulled her hood over her eyes.

“I’m fine, just a bit tired,” Wolf lied. Kipo knew it was a lie, but she didn’t pressure her as they were in public more and Wolf was not comfortable with all the people. Wolf sat with her arms crossed as everyone else socialized. When an air of silence hung for a minute she spoke up. 

“I talked to the generals, Yumyan, Puck, and Jamack, and everyone agrees that the current speed the army is approaching at will have them here at noon tomorrow,” she stated. Everyone froze, the chess pieces held in the air. Wolf didn’t look up and didn’t show her eyes. Song cleared her throat.

“Well, we all knew it was coming, right? We can take it,” she announced.

“Absolutely. We are powerful and we are people who know what’s right,” Lily added.

Wolf glanced at Song and noticed her eyes. They had the same kindness and hope in them as Kipo’s eyes. Wolf knew she liked Kipo’s eyes better but she could appreciate Song’s eyes.

“We can do this, I believe in us,” Kipo voice was full of pride, power, and hope.

And for the first time since everything started, since she had met Kipo, she believed they would end up being okay.


	37. Breaking Chains

Wolf wasn’t able to sleep at all, she was still awake when the burning light slipped through their window and she couldn’t sit any longer. She grabbed her staff and left the tree. 

She found a tree that rose to be below the canopy but still rather tall. She dug the tail of her staff into the trunk and began to climb up. Stab, grip, stab, grip, stab, grip, over and over until she reached the highest stable branch. She balanced herself on the branch, her feet placed opposite of each other and one hand holding herself up. She had her staff tilted away from her as she scanned the area. She was the only one awake at the time as far as she knew.

She kept her eyes fixed on the horizon she knew the army would be coming from. Watching the sun climb higher and higher and the village come alive. She was aware of every little movement, every sound, every smell. It smelled like flapjacks were for breakfast, but she made no move to go get some. She had to keep an eye out, she couldn’t let them get caught off-guard. 

She was aware of people looking for her, but she kept herself hidden. She had her eyes trained on the ball and she was not going to risk losing it by looking away for even a second. 

Over time she observed dots through the forest in the far distance that she could see the grassy plain they were on. She dropped down the tree recklessly, by sheer luck managing not to break her ankles. She ran to Yumyan’s tree and directly to him. He looked at her with a frown.

“Is it time?” he asked. She nodded breathlessly. “I assumed that. Go get your pack, what direction are they coming from.”

“North,” she panted.

“Kipo and the others are most likely still in the great hall. Fetch them and follow the rest of us when the horn blows.” He stood up and walked solemnly out of the room. Wolf did as she was told, rushing into the hall. Kipo looked both ecstatic and upset to see her.

“Wolf! Where have you been all morning? I went looking for you but I couldn’t find you.”

“I was watching and they’re coming. If anyone needs a weapon or anything, grab it now. This is your only chance.” The colour drained from Kipo’s face. Everyone looked grim and the hope that Kipo had instilled in Wolf the day before faded. 

“I have my crossbow on me since I was given it back,” Lily stated.

“I have a sword somewhere too,” Lio said. Everyone began listing their weapons and tools they had and Wolf gripped her staff tightly. She had something, which two weeks earlier she wouldn’t have been able to say. Kipo looked at her empty hands.

“Kipo, you can have my staff,” Wolf offered. Kipo looked at her in surprise.

“No, I have my paws. Stalkette is yours.”

“Close-combat like that isn’t a good idea. Take the staff.”

“No, then you wouldn’t have anything to use.” Wolf groaned in frustration.

“Can you not worry about me for five minutes? Fine, here.” She held the staff out to Song. “You need something too, ma’am.” Song shook her head.

“No, I have my own paws.”

“That you don’t know how to use,” Lio argued.

“Don’t doubt mom, dad! I think she knows how.”

“Thank you, Kipo. Hugo, do you need something to defend yourself?”

“I actually have an advantage in close combat,” he explained, flicking his hand. “So the mutt is better with her staff.”

“Benson?”

“I like to use the things around me, and I’d have to get used to the stick’s weight.”

“Thank you for the offer though, Wolf, but I think the stave is better in your hands,” Song said kindly. 

Then the horn blew.

The cats calmly filed out of the building, Wolf following them along with her pack. Everyone was quiet, everycat had drawn both their axes. They gathered in the centre of the village.

“The time has come and for the sake of all mutes, we will not lose this battle today! We Timbercats will fight with valour and vigour. For the future!” Yumyan declared.

“For the future!” Was echoed back to him. Again, they started marching.

The environment was quiet like the world held it’s breath. There were no words from anyone like they were a trained military. Wolf couldn’t help her frequent glances at Kipo to make sure she was handling everything okay and she clearly wasn’t. Her expression portrayed one of fear.

“Wolf, I’m scared,” she eventually whispered which Wolf found surprising but not unexpected. The same girl who had been preaching how they would be okay was scared. She did the thing she knew Kipo would do for her, which was intertwining their fingers.

“Like you said, we’ll be okay. I really believe that.”

“But I don’t,” Kipo admitted. 

“Well do you believe me?”

“Yes.”

“Then believe what I said.”

The group stopped moving suddenly, everyone freezing in line. The group pushed to the front to see what was going on and found the human army mirroring their positioning. They were larger in number and both Emelia and Yumyan stepped forward.

“Any last words from you and your mutants?”

“I should ask the same of you, human.” Kipo bolted forward to stand next to Yumyan and Song went with her.

“This is  _ your _ last chance, Emelia. The lives of the people under your command are at risk.” Emelia ignored Kipo, choosing rather to fixate on Song.

“So you recovered,” she said coldly.

“I was never sick,” Song hissed. “I was learning, something you never did.”

“I’d like to debate that.”

“The time for debate is over, you threw that away when you wanted to take my daughter away from me.”

“You threw it away when you created that mistake.” She stepped forward, her and Song’s anger dwarfing the determination of both armies. “You did all of this to everyone and I’m not letting you walk away Scott-free.”

“ _ You _ did all of this to everyone and  _ I’m _ not letting you walk away Scott-free. None of this would have happened if not directly because of you.” They were dangerously close now, their noses almost touching.

“I won’t be walking away scott-free, I’ll be walking freer than anyone after I rid the world of you and your disgrace. Neither of you will be leaving today.”

Wolf and Hugo both snapped at the same time, Wolf leaping forward to smack Emelia across the face with the butt of her staff and Hugo kicking her to the side.

“Don’t you dare talk about my Kipo like that!” Wolf growled

“Or of my family!” Hugo shouted.

Emelia loaded her crossbow to take aim, and all hell broke lose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we're nearing the climax everybody, I can't say how many more chapter I think there will be since I'm very bad at staying within my own predictions as I initially planned for thirty-two chapters, but here we go!


	38. Feels so Good, though Inconvenient

Kipo didn’t get a chance to do anything before everything fell apart. Shouting, cats and humans charging towards each other, and two of the people she cared about most were throwing themselves in harm’s way. 

Hugo routinely called them family, but Wolf called Kipo hers. 

That told her everything everyone had told her was true, that Wolf liked Kipo back. Now she and Hugo were teaming up against Emelia. Kipo’s paws came out and she was about to throw herself into the action when she noticed her mom struggling with someone, her eyes constantly flicking between soft brown and fiery orange. Kipo jumped over and whacked away her opponent.

“Mom, when you want to have your monkey out, think of being in danger, but only situational like a fistfight gives you hands. If you want it away, think of us.” Song looked at her hands for a moment and then clenched them and closed her eyes, her fur growing out and then having large monkey hands.

“I have a lot to learn from you.”

“Not right now, right now we’re kind of busy!” She looked back to pinpoint Wolf and Hugo’s location, only to find them near a large rock, taller than Emelia. She rushed over to help and got hit in the side by another human, making her tumble onto her side. She pushed herself up and reached up without thinking, slashing her assailant across his chest. He backed up slightly and she stood up, looking at his wound she had caused.

More people surrounded Emelia, Hugo, and Wolf, trying to take the two out. The two were moving in sync, Emelia trying to hit one and the other taking the opportunity to attack. It was like a dance, it wasn’t something they discussed but they just followed their guts. At one point Hugo got body-chucked by a muscular man and Wolf slid past Emelia and stung the man, giving Hugo time to recover. 

Emelia couldn’t hit them with her crossbow, and so she drew a dagger from her side. Wolf observed it and the liquid shining on it. She used the butt of her staff to hit Hugo out of the way and stood in between him and Emelia.

“Cover me,” she ordered and Hugo obliged. She didn’t wait before going to strike again.

Emelia and Wolf were evenly matched, both experienced warriors and strategists. They were both swift and strong, and Emelia’s height gave her a longer reach while Wolf’s size allowed her to hide behind or under things. Every move Wolf made Emelia blocked, and every stab by Emelia Wolf would dodge.

Hugo’s mute-strength was useful for playing defensive. He could easily pick people up and throw them, and he had a mean right hook.

Kipo shook herself out of her shock at the man’s wounds, remembering an old phrase. “All is fair in love and war,” and well, this was war. She hopped over someone laying on the ground to kick someone away from Hugo, drawing his attention. He said nothing, but his eyes were not Hugo’s.

Wolf was focused in her song, her every move filled with venom and animosity. Emelia’s eyes flicked up to see Kipo and she smirked. She aimed and threw the dagger, forcing Wolf’s hand. She had an open opportunity to attack Emelia and incapacitate her, at the possible expense of Kipo’s life. It wasn’t even a debate for her.

She used the staff to knock the dagger off course and stepped back to stand over it. She didn’t say anything to Kipo nor did she look at her, she didn’t want to get even more distracted by her emotions.

It was too late for that.

The same muscular man from earlier was back and he grabbed Wolf by her hood, throwing her into the rock.

Using the same commotion to act, a woman stabbed Hugo’s left shoulder. He didn’t howl but he did swing at her.

Kipo moved to try and help Wolf but her and Emelia were tangled again, Wolf leaning on her staff whenever she got the chance.

“You value the life of a monstrosity over not just your own, but the entire human race. You had potential, kid, you could have been great,” she sneered and part of her cloak got ripped from a quick attack.

“You want to commit mass murder and your only defence is it’s for the future of humanity,” Wolf retorted. “I know the future of humanity and she’s the same girl who already saved everyone once.”

“That frankenstein’s monster is the future demise, and after I’m done with you I’ll be her future demise,” Emelia growled. Wolf swung at her again and Emelia grabbed the handle of her staff, pulled her so they were inches from each other. “And there’s no way you can stop it.” Wolf kicked Emelia between the legs as hard as she could and shoved her back, watching her trip over some rocks.

“I’d like to disagree,” Wolf spat and approached slowly. She watched Emelia desperately grab at the ground around her and Wolf would be lying if she said that she didn’t enjoy watching that. She struck her across the face with the tail of her staff. “That is for trying to murder my best friend.” She stepped even closer and punched her as hard as she could in the cheek. “And that is for insulting her.

She had missed the true intention behind Emelia’s actions and in a flash, Wolf had been cut across her stomach and hit back against the rock. She slammed her head against the cold stone and coughed. Emelia stood and wiped the blood from her mouth.

“I think that was the best fight I’ve ever had,” she smiled coldly.

Kipo was already kneeling by Wolf, fully half-mute. Her tail, ears, all four paws, eyes and even her nose were out, she just wasn’t a jaguar.

“Wolf!” Wolf reached up weakly and placed her fingers on Kipo’s cheek.

“I love you, you know that? I love you.”

Kipo didn’t see Lio, Benson, and Troy come over to assist Wolf. She didn’t see Hugo still fighting. She didn’t see the army of cats slowly losing ground to the humans. She didn’t see the flea hopping towards them in the distance.

She saw purple.

Wolf loved her.

She loved Wolf.

Wolf was dying.

It was Emelia’s fault.

Everything shrunk around her as she grew, her tails flicking wildly around. Her mane was straight up and all six paws had their claws out.

She roared, and it wasn’t just her.

Her sister-in-fur was in control too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The quote is originally from John Lyly with the modern variant I used was adapted by Francis Edward Smedley. There are a few references to other things (although one really hard to tell since I changed a lot) but they are there. Thank you so much for reading this far and I hope you'll ride out this ending with me.


	39. Two Sides of the Same Coin

Yrsa was confused at what was going on. Too much noise for her ears and too much movement for her to focus on. She tried to move but couldn’t, at least not move in the way she wanted to. She was only aware, not in control. 

This was strange to her. She wasn’t able to control her body. Whenever she was awake, she was in full control. She watched the madness befalling the area with very little she recognized. The ape, the wolf human, the cat human, the bug, and a pig. Everyone else she did not know. 

Except for the woman in the blue cloak.

Her other half charged at her, the human barely managing to move out of the way in time. She had to try and pull away and lessen the aggression, she knew when it was time to play the defensive.

It was strange having to fight over control, reason combatting passion. Yrsa found it was lucky that she was stronger. She fell back, finding it unwise to trifle with the woman. She turned around and found two humans focused on her, a tall burly woman and a shorter man. She remembered them slightly.

They fired and Yrsa jumped over the bolts, landing gracefully on her paws and baring her fangs. Her bite was worse than her bark but she also wanted to give a fair warning. The humans either didn’t recognize or ignored the generous heads-up, and went in for another attempt. Understanding their intent she charged them down, her paw hitting one and her tails the other. With them both knocked over she gripped one in her maw and tossed her against a tree trunk.

Satisfied, she looked back to the man who had already fired a third time. Yrsa didn’t have time to move and the arrow hit her right shoulder, but she didn’t react. She took slow steps forward, her eyes focused on her prey. Her body stiffened and she lunged, pinning the man underneath her paw. 

She observed the fear in his eyes and she exhaled and leaned closer. It was nice to prove that even with her human counterpart being a hero, Yrsa could still be the villain.

She picked up the man and tossed him to join the woman before turning around again. She was faced with a group of about twelve foot-soldiers. Her lips curled up in a smile, showing off some of her teeth.

She underestimated something, she failed to recall that fear keeps you alive while arrogance would lead you astray. Her arrogance did that, she had turned her back to her previous opponents and one of them had gotten back up and stabbed their sword into her not far beneath her ankle. She howled in pain and spun around, swinging the woman who was still gripping her sword around. Eventually the sword flew out and flung the woman backwards and Yrsa didn’t hesitate the come down with her claws.

She didn’t look to see what damage she had caused because instead she immediately went after the human squadron in the same way, wildly swiping without much intent. She hacked and slashed and bit and hit with the only goal to win the fight. After her brief time of acting first and thinking later, she had time to look at her actions.

She didn’t think any of them were dead. Although they were probably scarred for the rest of their lives.

She trod carefully as to not step on any of the fallen soldiers of both sides that could still be alive or to not disrespect the deceased and she felt a prick in her back, a little above her tails. The small prick of discomfort grew into a searing pain that made that part of her body feel numb. With her remaining four legs she looked at the woman who had shot her.

The woman in blue looked triumphant, stepping closer with confidence as more of Yrsa felt numb.

“Two down, two to go,” she said cruelly. She ran a finger along the neck of the crossbow and reloaded it. Yrsa growled but couldn’t move most of her body. Then a shadow loomed over them and the cruel woman didn’t have time to aim before a hand batted her away.

Yrsa with her limited movement turned her head as far as she could to see what stood taller than her and saw the Mega Monkey, She knew that her sister knew the monkey, and took the chance to hand over control.

Kipo’s body hurt, she couldn’t move well but she could see her mom. She tried to yell but it wasn’t words that came out but instead a roar. Song looked furious and stood over Kipo, staring down Emelia. Kipo couldn’t move any pair of her legs which also made her realise she had three pairs of legs. She put her head down with the little bit of her strength Wolf and closed her eyes, resigned to her fate.

Then she heard muffled words and felt a hand on her cheek and she opened one eye, watching Benson and Troy say words she couldn’t understand. Troy nodded and ran off while Benson kept moving his lips with no sound. Troy came back with a black and white cat which was ruffling through a bag before drawing out a small needle and pouring something in it. He stuck the needle in Kipo’s left shoulder and injected the substance, before retracting and saying some quick things before running off. Troy was standing next to Benson again and they were both watched Kipo with concern. She squeezed her eyes shut and remembered her friends and family, soon feeling her body shrink.

“Kipo!” Benson helped her to her feet, keeping his arm slung around her shoulder. 

“What happened! And what are you doing here with me? I thought you were with Wolf!”

“We were!” Troy explained. “But Mr Oak asked us something and we turned around and when we turned around she was gone! We can’t find her.”

“We can’t find Hugo either! They were both there and then they were gone the moment you roared!”

“There!” Kipo pointed with her free hand, a small human silhouette with ears a shadow against the setting sun atop a rock a hundred feet away from them. The form of a mandrill, a young girl, and a woman held in the air between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY I SPOILED THE ENDING FOR MYSELF AND I REJECT CANON AND SUBSTITUTE MY OWN SO MUCH POTENTIAL WAS THROWN AWAY IN SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS UNPOPULAR OPINION BUT I DON'T LIKE THE ENDING OR THE FIVE YEARS LATER ME ANGY


	40. Stiches

“You’re gonna be okay, Wolf. You’ll be okay.” Wolf’s vision was blurry and she had a metallic taste in her mouth. She had one hand resting on her stomach and the other in the dirt. There was a loud ringing in her ears and she coughed again. She could ignore the pain in her abdomen because she was okay with the last thing she had said, the only thing she wanted Kipo to know.

Lio was visibly stressed as he stitched Wolf’s wound closed. She looked at him and slowly tilted her head in thanks. He wiped his forehead and turned to face away from her and asked Troy and Benson something. Wolf struggled to get herself up and stumbled away, towards the direction she had seen Kipo go. She relied heavily on her staff and almost fell a few times, but she kept upright.

She made it a fair distance across the battlefield before she was confronted by a human, and she tried to brace herself for any attack. Yet, the attack never came. She watched Hugo come in from the side and punch the human off their feet before looking at her with a cruel grin.

“We have no time to waste, mutt. Kipo is in danger and with everyone preoccupied by each other, this is our opportunity.” Wolf couldn’t run, but that was not an issue as Hugo led them on the sidelines. They came to the treeline, where Hugo dashed into the foliage and dragged Wolf behind him. He knelt down and felt for the vibrations to settle. Wolf watched Kipo as the mega-jaguar in a fight against multiple humans, and Greta creeping up behind her. Wolf opened her mouth to shout but Hugo pulled her down and clasped a hand over her mouth.

“Silence!” Hugo hissed. “You made that transformation happen. If she sees you, she’ll turn back to normal and become much more vulnerable. She cannot know you’re okay.” Wolf glared at him but reluctantly obeyed.

The howl hurt Wolf’s heart, knowing she could have done something to stop it. Hugo showed no reaction, but kept them moving. Hugo pointed across the field.

“There! The white witch. We don’t have much time. Follow.” Hugo dropped on all fours and ran across the open space, Wolf trying to keep up without hurting herself severely. Hugo narrowed his eyes. “Now we just have to figure out how-”

Then there was a thud, Kipo laying on the ground in front of Emelia. Wolf stood up suddenly and nearly doubled over in pain, she leaned over against her staff. Hugo’s eyes filled with a fire.

“She shot her. She shot Kipo with a bolt that had the same poison she used on you.”

Wolf didn’t care about the pain or the risk of blowing her stitches, she was running across the field faster than she had ever run before. She was a girl of passion and her passion seemed to be Kipo. She didn’t think rationally when it came to Kipo, Her eyes were set on Emelia and nothing around her could change her target. Her destination was changed when Song came down and smacked Emelia across the field, past Wolf.

Wolf stabbed the butt of Stalkette into the dirt and slid backwards to slow herself, when she felt that she had good enough grip she charged again. Emelia was rubbing her head when she saw Wolf’s deathstalker tail coming down on her head and it skimmed her hair. She drew her dagger again and clicked her tongue.

“I thought I had gotten rid of you. Oh well, at least I can do it properly this time.” Then Hugo was behind her and throwing her against a tree. He glared at her hatefully. It was not Hugo anymore, maybe the basis of his goals but not his morals.

“Witch.”

“Scarlemange,” she hissed and pushed herself up. He gripped the collar of her shirt and dragged her off her feet.

“You have done me wrong yet again,” he growled. She put a foot on his belly and kicked, getting out of his grip. She went to stab him but halted half-way at the threat of a deathstalker tail against her neck.

“The tables have turned,” Wolf stated. Emelia frowned. Hugo brushed off his fur and grabbed Emelia again and threw her against a rock.

“Stooping to my level? Hypocrites,” Emelia spat. 

“An eye for an eye, Emelia,” Hugo taunted. “I’m only returning a favour.”

“You have no right to do that,” she spat.

“No right? No right? Fifteen years I have suffered because of you, fifteen years a broken husk because of your sick vision of the world! You humans made mutes this way and now you want to revert it, even if it costs your brethren’s lives. You wanted to kill my mother, you attempted to kill my sister, you only let me live for my pheromones! You ruined our lives, and now I will ruin yours.” He wrapped a hand around Emelia’s neck and climbed the rock, Wolf following him. She looked off the rock to see it was a ledge, leading down to a roaring river with jagged rocks. Hugo held Emelia out on the rock towards Wolf and stayed silent. 

Her actions were for Kipo and always had been. She would fight to the death for her and almost had multiple times, only by sheer luck and pure will managing to survive. Facing her greatest fears for her, changing her set-in-stone opinions, everything for that girl. It was shocking and if she looked at herself from the past, even from four months before she wouldn’t recognize herself. She had grown, and she owed everything to the same girl.

If this would be the last thing she ever did before she died for one reason or another, she was okay with that.

Wolf raised her weapon in the air and before she had a chance to bring it down she heard a voice cut through the air.

“Wolf!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for losing it at the end of yesterday's chapter but I'm very irritated about the ending, we have about three more plot chapters and then an epilogue, and I'll detail my future plans in the epilogue. But we're almost there mates!


	41. The Three Fates

“Wolf!” She froze, her staff poised and ready. She didn’t move a muscle, her eyes locked with Hugo’s who looked as startled as her. She didn’t need to see her face to know the expression that painted it. The emotion in those eyes. Her throat was dry and she couldn’t speak, it was unbearable.

“Wolf, Hugo, you guys are better than this. You don’t need to do this,” Kipo pleaded. Hugo’s lips were curled in a frown and he looked at her without moving his head.

“We are doing what we must, Kipo. This is for the best of all mutes. This is for the best of humans as well.”

“No, it’s not Hugo.” He shot Wolf a dangerous grin. It wasn’t Hugo she was talking to, it was Scarlemange.

“Your call, mutt.” 

Wolf’s hands shook as she was under three different gazes. Kipo’s of fear, Hugo’s of expectation, and Emelia’s of bitter satisfaction.

“Are you and I so different, kid? What have I done that you wouldn't have? You’re wearing a  _ mute _ , but you think that you’re a hero because now you won’t kill me? Everything I have ever done was for humanity, and in your mind, that’s the same for you. Let me tell you a story, the story of a girl who lived in a city under constant threat of being abandoned. Let me tell you a story of a girl who was orphaned at three because her parents were killed in a mute breach after coming so close to finding a cure. A girl who grew up with a burning hatred towards the creatures that ruined her life.” Wolf was surprised Emelia could speak, but it turned out that Hugo wasn’t squeezing her throat that tightly.

“A girl who was lied to by someone she considered a close friend. A girl whose life was destroyed by the same person she had trusted. A girl who has been spending years picking up the pieces. Sounds familiar?” Wolf didn’t speak, she had more questions than answers now. She wanted to know how Emelia knew all that about Wolf, but she was not going to ask. 

“We are identical. We are acting for the same reasons, just in different ways. My life was ruined by a half-mute, when will yours be? One choice is right, one is wrong. If you make the wrong one, everyone’s blood is on your hands.” Hugo tightened his grip.

“Enough. Tik-tok, mutt. The choice is yours.”

“Wolf, please. You are the bigger person. You have changed so much, you aren’t the same girl who shouted into hoot-hoots. We don’t have to do this.” Wolf found her words returning to her.

“ _ You _ don’t have to do this. I do. I can’t let her get away with this. She almost killed you. She almost killed Song. She wants to murder all of our friends. She wants to murder the Timbercats, the racoons, the snakes, everyone! Brad, Amy, the Chevre sister, Dave, even if I don’t like them, we can’t let her do this.” 

“You’re right, we can’t,” Hugo stated. “Look at what she did to me. Look at what she did to Song. She shot you, she shot my sister, she has caused the death of many a mute across this earth. It’s time she got what’s coming to her, is it not?” Wolf was sweating, she held the fate of living beings in her hands and she didn’t know what to do. She needed to focus on something else, she needed answers to a personal appeal made by Emelia.

“Let her talk,” she commanded and Hugo obliged, weakening his grip slightly. “How do you know we’re alike?”

“Please, you really think I didn’t know the mistake was on the surface before you turned up at my feet? I’ve been following her since the burrow, I lose her for a few days and she ended up in a group. Then I lose her again and instead I find you, and that little meltdown you had told me enough.” Wolf’s hands trembled and she raised her staff again.

She wasn’t the same girl, but she was willing to slay someone not for food, but for revenge. It wasn’t even in self-defence. 

She dropped the stave and the sound of it hitting the stone echoed across the battlefield. She couldn’t do this, it was too much on her shoulders. No matter what she did, it would disappoint someone. She looked at Hugo apologetically.

“I’m sorry, I can’t,” her voice cracked and her eyes were watering. Hugo frowned and his gaze was of disapproval.

“I shouldn’t have had such high hopes,” he mumbled and moved his hand, holding Emelia out over the edge.

“Hugo!”

“I am not better than this, Kipo,” he growled. “I am the same mandrill who wanted you to gild your father. I am the same mandrill that tried to enslave all mutes!” he started shouting. 

“H-”

“Hugo is not here right now,” he announced. “At the moment, there is only Scarlemange.”

“There is Hugo in there,” Wolf stated. “Maybe Scarlemange isn’t better than this, but Hugo is. Have you ever heard of the phrase there is a fate worse than death?” Hugo’s fangs peaked out and he glanced over at her.

“What a wonderful idea.” He locked eyes with Emelia and his manic grin widened. “Worry not, dear doctor, for I’ll let you live. But, you will know the pain I have known.” He tossed her off the rock at Kipo’s feet and dropped down, landing gently. “And worry not my darling sister, Hugo is here to stay.” He picked up Emelia by her collar again and carried her, his expression dark. “I will be in the village, and she will be in my cell.”

Kipo rushed forward and pulled Wolf into a bone-crushing hug.

“Wolf, stop almost dying on me! Especially after you say you love me, don’t go do that!” Wolf had forgotten she said that.

“I’m sorry about that,” Wolf mumbled. She appreciated the warmth of the hug she was engulfed in, but she had admitted her feelings and she had to be let down gently.

“Why are you sorry? Wolf, you’re so blind sometimes.”

“What do you mean?” Kipo blushed and pulled back. She scratched her neck awkwardly.

“Well, um- it means-” a howl from a monkey reminded them the situation they were in. “It means we should probably go help my mom.”


	42. A Necessary Action

Kipo couldn’t see who Song was fighting but she didn’t need to know. She had been so focused on Wolf, Hugo, and Emelia that she had left the fight and they were outnumbered, and taking out Emelia wouldn’t take out the entire army. She had Wolf by her side as they ran and avoided separate squabbles. 

The scene of the field would follow Kipo for the rest of her life, casualties from both sides were almost equal in numbers and the fallen soldiers were scattered in the rusty grass. Wolf seemed unphased and Kipo wondered how she could appear so unbothered by everything yet get so riled up by Emelia. They could see Song’s situation now, her being surrounded by at least two dozen humans, a majority of them defending a few who viciously attacked Song, using blades over bows.

Kipo and Wolf were blocked by two figures who stepped in the way, Wolf jumping in front to push Kipo behind her. Zane and Greta didn’t speak, but their drawn weapons spoke volumes for them. Greta and Wolf stared each other down and Zane made the first move, a stab intended to hit Wolf’s shoulder. Kipo intercepted and knocked the sword from his hand, inviting Greta to attempt to hit. Wolf blocked the move and pushed back, Zane scurrying to grab his weapon. 

Kipo and Wolf didn’t see their friends sneaking by the distracted generals to help Song, focused on the matter at hand. Wolf and Greta moved quickly, Wolf hitting faster but Greta hitting harder, the tail of her staff hitting the blade of the sword. Kipo was entangled with Zane, using her agility and strength to avoid his reach and damage. Fighting side-by-side with Wolf was reassuring, because she knew that Wolf was there to fight for her life and she was there to fight for Wolf’s.

They did their waltz perfectly, Newton’s laws in full force. Kipo did notice Wolf sweating, her movements slowing and her normally fluid body stiffening.

The dagger, she was still severely wounded. She couldn’t stop getting hurt and she wasn’t going to be able to keep fighting as ferociously as she was. Kipo spotted an opportunity and kicked Zane’s ankles hard, causing him to tumble. She then tried to hit Greta’s sword out of her hand and missed, skimming her paw on the blade. Wolf moved in time to block a slice from Greta with her stinger, pushing Kipo’s paw out of the way. She then swung above Kipo and hit Zane in the side of his head with the telson. She brought it back to sting Zane’s shoulder and move back to a defensive position. 

It was a little late, Greta skimmed her bicep and Kipo flinched for Wolf. She couldn’t stop getting hurt. Kipo attempted another punch and succeeded, sending Greta’s blade bouncing along the ground. Greta looked between Wolf and her sword and dived for her sword, barely avoiding a hit by Wolf. Kipo grabbed Wolf to stop her from pursuing.

“Wolf, stop! You need to take a break for a second! She’s on the run and you’re wounded again!”

“I’m fine, Kipo!” Wolf jerked away from Kipo and growled in frustration when she couldn’t see Greta. Kipo looked towards her mom to find that a few sneaky humans had managed to uproot the assault, Lio and Roberto wielding their own swords against some others. Dalia was in an axe-sword fight and Super-Dave was taking on two humans at once. Some other cats had charged in as well, including Yumyan and Molly who defended Benson and Troy who appeared to be trying to figure out how to treat Song’s wounds quickly along with the same cat that had helped her.

Kipo let out a sigh of relief, turning to look behind them. Wolf was looking at the spectacle as well, her back turned to some of the previously defeated humans who had slipped around the outside of their view. Kipo didn’t speak but instead acted, leaping and transforming in midair. She stood above Wolf and growled, her tail flicking wildly. One human backed off, but the others continued forward. Kipo’s claws extended and she was about to strike when Wolf got into the fight, forcing Kipo to change plans. She pinned down one human who Wolf couldn’t deal with at the moment and batted another away, leaving three for Wolf that Kipo didn’t dare deal with out of fear of crushing her. 

The small piercing pain in her paw was uncomfortable but bearable, something the human seemed to be realized at the same time. She was still growling deeply as she tried to keep some more primal instincts under control. It was difficult.

Whenever Wolf pushed a human far enough away, Kipo would hit them to send them far away. Wolf stung the human under Kipo’s paw and placed a hand on her foreleg. Kipo turned back to normal and scanned their surroundings.

“We should probably go back to the rest of the group,” she assessed. Wolf nodded but paused, looking off into the distance.

“Probably, but that looks pretty important.” Wolf pointed at a bouncing shadow, followed by silhouettes with blurred wings and the sound of guitars, flies, punk-rock, and howling. They watched the approaching shadows and when the dying light hit the leader, they could see the transparent amber body with a liquid bouncing around inside. A cat and a human clinging the reins tightly and nearly being ejected with every bounce.

Asher and Shoelace directed Pierre enough to have him land at Song’s feet, in front of Yumyan. The rest of the mute army charged onto the battlefield, now outnumbering the humans by a small amount. Kipo and Wolf watched in awe.

“You did it Kipo, you united all mutes,” Wolf murmured and Kipo placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Not without you.”

Their tender moment was shattered by a searing pain in Kipo’s shoulder that bounced off her shoulder blade and dragged down her back. Kipo lost control of herself and scratched Greta’s chest deeply. Wolf said words that fell on deaf ears and before she could deliver another blow, two strikes in quick succession hit her side and a familiar venom made her faint. The last thing she saw was Wolf piercing Greta with the same bard, and looking at Kipo with tears in her eyes.


	43. Never Goes Down the Way that we Meant It

Kipo woke up in a familiar room, blinking the blurriness from her eyes. She wasn’t alone in the room, there was her best friend there too. Wolf wasn’t facing her but was facing the door, glaring at anyone who passed by. She was covered in dirt and dried blood, reminding Kipo of what had happened.

The battle, Wolf’s multiple injuries, Kipo attacking Greta, Wolf stinging Kipo to keep her from killing the woman.

“Wolf?” she jumped, her staff that was leaning against her falling to the floor. She looked at her with wide eyes and then turned away.

“Kipo, I’m sorry, I had to do it. It wasn’t you,” Wolf apologised. She picked back up her staff and stood up. “I knew it wasn’t you, you’d never attack someone like that. Even if they attacked you first, you were going to kill her if I didn’t do something.”

“No, Wolf, I understand,” Kipo smiled. “What happened after that?”

“Well, all the other mutes came onto the field and after about an hour the humans retreated,” Wolf explained. “It’s not good, but we won I guess.”

“How long have I been asleep?” Kipo asked. Wolf shrugged.

“Only a few hours, after I stung you Shoelace came over and helped me bring you to the others, and the doctor stitched you as best he could. It wasn’t great, but it got the job done. Then it was just waiting it out.”

“Have you been here the whole time?” Wolf blushed slightly.

“Well someone had to watch you in case something went wrong.” Kipo chuckled lightly.

“I appreciate it.” Wolf cleared her throat.

“Since you’re awake, can you tell me what you meant when you said I was blind sometimes? I’m really confused.” Kipo looked away nervously.

Why was she nervous? Wolf had already said it, she didn’t have to be scared of rejection. Maybe it was because it was her first time using those words romantically, maybe it was because she really felt that way. She stood up and paced back and forth.

“Well, sometimes you don’t notice how I feel when I make it the most obvious thing in the universe. Like I treat you differently than I treat everyone else. You’re not my family, you're my best friend and I really like you.” She sat on the bed with her back facing Wolf. “Like-like you. Like, I kind of love you a little? Okay, a lot. But yeah that’s why you’re blind.” Wolf froze.

“Say that again?”

“You’re my best friend?”

“No, after that.”

“That’s why you’re blind?”

“In between those two.” Kipo put her head in her hands.

“I love you,” she said, her words muffled by her fingers. Wolf came over and sat next to her, fidgeting with her pelt.

“I think I told you that I love you after I got stabbed.” She put her hand next to Kipo. “So, I love you?”

“Romantically?” 

“No, as a pet. Yes, romantically, Kipo.” Kipo smiled. She knew she didn’t have anything to worry about, but she worried anyway. She placed her hand over Wolf’s.

“Are you okay with being a couple?” Kipo asked.

“Yeah, sure. Just don’t be all over me in front of everyone. Benson and Troy already do that.”

“Well, hope you know I’ll be like that in private,” Kipo grinned. Wolf rolled her eyes. 

“I expected that. Also, by the way…” Wolf reached her hand over and placed her fingers on Kipo’s chin, gently turning her so they were facing each other. She then leaned forward and softly kissed Kipo’s lips. She pulled back shyly. “Benson told me what that meant.” 

“I could have told you,” Kipo laughed.

“No.”

They sat for a while, their fingers threaded together while they both blushed. Kipo would have been fine with staying that way forever, but she had something she had to see.

“Wolf, is Emelia alive?” Wolf stiffened, the mere mention of her name putting her on guard. 

“As far as I know. But I haven’t been there, so Hugo could have gotten his way.”

“I need to go see her.” Kipo stood up, taking her hand back and missing the warmth. “You don’t have to come with me, but I need to talk to her.” Wolf stood up too and frowned but stepped next to her.

“I’m going with you,” she stated.

“Thank you,” Kipo murmured. Wolf nodded.

Walking through the village felt strange, an air of triumph and sorrow coating the grounds. It was clear their victory did not come without losses. Kipo navigated by memory and ended up outside the prison, an old cat guarding the door. He was sitting in a chair with both eyes closed, a peg leg crossing his other leg. He opened one eye to look at Kipo and nodded her in before closing it again. 

In the tree, she could hear a quiet voice echoing and when she went down the stairs she saw Hugo speaking to Emelia. She stood in Hugo’s old cell with her knuckles white from gripping the bars. When she saw the pair come down the stairs her eyes narrowed. Hugo noticed and turned to look at them as well.

“Worry not, I am committing no crimes. Just sharing my thoughts on her.” Hugo waved a hand dismissively. 

“That’s not why we’re here Hugo, I wasn’t worried about that,” Kipo stated and Emelia laughed darkly.

“Did you come to gloat at your victory? How the human race can remain tainted and be destroyed by you? This isn’t over, kid. One day, I’ll get out of here. And I’ll fix everything your mother messed up.” Wolf gripped Stalkette tightly and pointed at Emelia, causing Kipo to place a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“I wanted to ask you why, why do you hate me so much?”

“Because you are an experiment that shouldn’t have ever left the lab, you never got greenlit. Your mother did this without consulting me, and she tainted humanity. She found out how to fix mutes and instead of fixing them, she makes the problem worse! How ironic that in her attempt to make a mute she became one.” Emelia smirked.

“One day, you’ll snap. You’ll destroy humans and mutes. I would have saved humans, brought us back to our glory. But you had to ruin it, didn’t you? Now both will crumble to ash at your hands.”

“It would have happened at your hands, it won’t happen at Kipo’s,” Wolf snarled.

“Wolf, calm down.”

“And you, you really think that you’re in charge of yourself? Yet you obey a freak like her? You’re just a pet, a little trophy to parade around. ‘Look at this, I made a mute-hating human loyal to me and now she’d do anything for me,’ that’s it. That is all you are.” Wolf lunged forward and stood as close as she could to the bars, pointing her finger in Emelia’s face.

“I am in charge of me, and I’m no trophy. We are equals, and if anyone is a trophy, it’s you.”

“You’re just like me,” Emelia sneered. She flicked Wolf’s nose and backed up. “Just wait until you get betrayed. I’ll love it.”

“She won’t get betrayed,” Hugo said. “Not by my sister, maybe you would betray her, but Kipo won’t. If it wasn’t for her, you’d be dead right now doctor, remember that.”

“Everything will cave in on itself, the jaguar paw to blame. You will both come crawling back while the world is in flames.” Kipo shivered at Emelia words. She grabbed Wolf’s hand.

“We should probably go,” she mumbled and Wolf nodded. They walked up the stairs and Hugo followed them, the silence crushing. When they got outside, Hugo eyed their hands.

“I told you so,” he teased.

“Shut up!” Kipo shoved him playfully with her free hand. 

They walked into the great hall and while it was somber, there was still laughter and singing. Their family sat in the same spot they always did and the trio joined them, Hugo sitting in between Lio and Song while Kipo and Wolf sat across from Benson and Troy. Lily had her arms around her children, talking to Roberto and Dave, who had Mandu sitting next to them. Song and Lio were in the conversation as well, and Hugo naturally joined in. Benson and Troy let out a sigh of relief seeing Kipo.

“I was worried about you!” Benson reached a hand across the table to clasp Kipo’s. “Two stings from a deathstalker, being shot by an arrow that had venomcreeper poison on it, being stabbed multiple times, it was not looking good!”

“Plus Wolf got slashed across her stomach,” Troy pointed out.

“I’m surprised the stitches didn’t come out, they weren’t the best,” Wolf deadpanned.

“I'm glad they didn’t and without you guys, I’d be dead. I owe you one”

“We all owe Asher in the end. They and Shoelace turned the entire tide,” Troy remarked.

“You’re welcome, dude! You can pay me back by helping me find my dad.”

“He hasn’t come back from the store yet?”

“Shut it, in theory, he’s still at the resistance, but the humans may be moving and regrouping somewhere else.”

“Plus there are still other burrows that Emelia was planning on finding,” Lily stated. “The humans may follow those plans.”

“I think we deserve a break first,” Lio interrupted.

“We certainly do,” Roberto agreed. 

They chatted for a while until they ate and when they left Kipo and Wolf mirrored Benson and Troy, both couples holding hands. Benson noticed.

“What did I tell you, sis?” Wolf rolled her eyes.

“Whatever.”

“I’m just glad you two are happy. I knew you’d end up together,” Troy commented.

“Only because I told you.” Benson elbowed him. 

Mandu trotted happily beside them, her eyes smiling. At the split-off, Troy kissed Benson’s cheek and whispered something in her ear before bidding everyone goodnight. The entire group came out in a choir of “good night,” “night,” “see you tomorrow,” and other things of the spirit. Going into the tree, Kipo took a moment to appreciate everything.

Lio and Song took back the main bedroom, Hugo moving into Benson and Dave’s room. He took Dave’s bed who slept next to Benson like they had for the entire time they’d known each other. Kipo and Wolf went into their room and Kipo idled by her bed. She turned to look at Wolf.

“Wolf, how do you feel about cuddling?”

“What’s cuddling?” Kipo shuffled her feet.

“It’s like just hugging while you’re going to sleep or sitting on the couch or something like that.” Wolf raised an eyebrow.

“Sure, I’ll try it.” Kipo pumped her fist and went over to Wolf’s bed, sitting on the edge of it. Wolf stood across from her. “You’re gonna have to show me how to do it, you know that right?” Kipo nodded and opened her arms. Wolf hesitated before walking into the hug, and Kipo pulled them back.

She kicked the blanket away and pulled them under it, resting so they were face to face. Wolf moved slightly so she was a little taller. Kipo intertwined their hands and pressed their foreheads together.

She had waited so long for this.

She remembered the first day they had spent in the room. She remembered the night she begged Wolf not to throw herself in dangerous situations. She remembered only a few days prior where Wolf was crying because she couldn’t protect her. Now they were here, and Kipo couldn’t be happier.

Every wound, every stitch, every new scar they had both acquired. She pulled one hand away and held it against the stitches on Wolf’s stomach. The wound that triggered her words. She took Wolf’s hand back. She looked into Wolf’s eyes and then kissed her.

Maybe it was because she was a teenager, maybe it was because she had wanted this for a long time, but she took advantage of the fact that now she could do that whenever she wanted.

Wolf looked slightly confused and Kipo chuckled,

“I love you,” she murmured. Wolf accepted that maybe she didn’t understand what was going on in Kipo’s head, but she understood what those words meant.

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally I was going to make Emelia incredibly homophobic, I might later but it would include slurs. Maybe I'll make it a different story and raise the rating because it would have slurs and swearing so it would have a different rating I think. I don't know I'm tired lol we got one more chapter mates. Also, is it gay to cuddle the homies? Benson and Dave say no.


	44. Rebuilding

It had been a month since Emelia’s rein had ended, yet it felt like years. Wolf leaned against the bark of the tree. Kipo was inside, talking to Emelia like she did every day. She would slip away before Wolf woke up and be there for who knows how long before she gave up for the day. Wolf would patiently wait outside the door for Kipo, since she tended to get aggressive with Emelia.

She was across from the guard who she had begun to get to know. She would just listen to him ramble without saying anything. It was nice, they didn’t know each other's names but enjoyed each other's company while they both were outside the tree. 

The cat was going on about his glory days when Kipo came out with her palm pressed against her forehead. The old cat stopped talking and nodded them on, pretending he hadn’t been talking at all. 

“How did it go?” Wolf asked. Kipo jumped and sighed.

“Still nothing. The same thing she says every day.” Kipo kept walking and Wolf kept stride with her, walking with her through the village. “What if everything she says is true?”

“It isn’t,” Wolf insisted. “You’re nothing she says you are, you are so much more than her. You’re a much better person, and you’ve done so much more than her. You united all mute, even Umlat Snakes and Timbercats. Also Newton Wolves and Timbercats,” Kipo looked at her thankfully.

“Let’s go check on Las Vistas,” Kipo suggested.

Kipo turned mega and knelt down, letting Wolf climb on her back. While she bound through the woods towards the collapsed clover burrow, Wolf stroked her fur gently. Travel that would take around an hour on foot only took fifteen minutes by jaguar. Kipo enjoyed the wind blowing through her fur and Wolf enjoyed riding on her back. Her tail bounced with her every leap while the earth crunched beneath her paws.

Arriving at the edge of Las Vistas they could see some mutes working, Timbercats and Fitness Racoons carrying materials, building frames for houses and tilling soil for gardening. Some Scooter Skunks and Hummingbombers worked together on old motorcycles and cars, fixing them and modifying them to be more practical in their day for mute and human use. 

There were some humans roaming around too, around twenty in total, including people who had already been living there or with the Timbercats. The people who had resided with the Timbercats. Since the humans who had been with the Timbercats still were, there were twelve new humans who had joined them. 

Lily, Song, Lio, Roberto, Troy, Benson, Asher, and Dahlia were all there and helping out where they could. They were almost done with one house, and Lily was writing something down on a clipboard. 

Kipo turned back into a human and walked up to her, tapping her shoulder. Lily turned and looked at her.

“Hello, Kipo. We’re almost done with the house for that group of teens and their adult. So that’s six which leaves six who need a house, the Todd’s and the Grayson’s. Then if no one else joins us we can start building our homes, I think that will be a little more challenging since my household will be four whenever we find my husband, Roberto’s is two, and yours is at least five and maybe seven depending on if Benson and Dave want their own house.”

“Thanks, Lily, do we have enough supplies?”

“The Mod Frogs are coming with some more food in about two days, and the Timbercats are good at getting building materials, so yes I think we are good. Now it’s just future planning, means to be self-reliant, maybe a school once we get enough people, you know, things of that sort.” A tall man came out from the inside of the house, covered in dust and wood chips and gripping a letter tied with a rope.

“A little dog told me we got another group of four coming, Lafontaine.” A husky trotted up behind him, a collar on him that had a loop to hold a paper. “A mom, her two kids, and her son’s boyfriend. Old friends of mine.” 

“Great, do we know how many days away?”

“Maybe three, two at least.”

“I’ll plan to have it built after the Grayson’s home, shouldn’t be too long. Do your kids need anything?”

“Intense therapy, but other than that nothing. I just need my daughter to get along with my kid’s friends. Don’t be afraid to tell them to help out, by the way. They can use hammers and carry things.” He wiped his forehead. “Small tip, don’t take in a bunch of kids. I wanted to help some queer teens, and now I have six kids. Two sons, three daughters, and one child. It’s a handful.” Lily pointed her eraser at him.

“Advice taken. Thank you for the heads up about the incoming family.” He nodded and went back inside, whistling and pointing into the distance, signalling the dog to return to his owners.

“Who’s that?” Kipo asked.

“Trent, he’s the chaperone for that group of six who showed up a few days ago. He just got here last night, that’s the reason I missed dinner.”

“Do you need any help from us?” She tapped her pencil against her chin.

“I don’t think so, besides confirming who will be in your own household.”

“Can do,” Wolf replied and she led the way, Kipo in tow. She found Benson and Troy working on a different house frame, Troy twirling a hammer between his fingers and saying things to make Benson giggle. Wolf came and leaned against the frame.

“Slacking off?” she deadpanned and Benson rolled his eyes.

“You showed up hours late, don’t you be coming after me,” he sassed. Kipo waved.

“Who’s house will this be?”

“This one is for the Grayson’s, they’ve been waiting for the longest,” Troy explained. 

“I think we’ve been waiting for the longest,” Wolf joked. Kipo elbowed her.

“Yes, but we have a tree. Speaking of trees, Benson, are you and Dave going to be living with us or in your own home?”

“What does that have to do with trees?” Wolf asked.

“We live in the same tree.”

“I think Dave and I want to live on our own, but as your neighbour. Just like we used to, I kind of miss it.”

“I understand that. I miss sleeping in the open,” Wolf said. Kipo glanced at her.

“Really?”

“No. But I still understand it.”

“Where is Dave, by the way?” Kipo asked. 

“He’s working on the Todd house, along with my dad, Mr and Mrs Oak, and Hugo. Asher and Dahlia are working on the back of the kid’s house over there.”

“Dude, the youngest in that house is three years younger than us and the oldest is one year younger,” Benson pointed out. Troy shrugged.

“Kid house. If it’s younger than me it’s a kid.” Benson rolled his eyes.

“We’re gonna go talk to Mom and Dad, if you guys need help give us a shout!” They nodded and Kipo brought them around the side of the Todd house. The group had two walls fully up and were working on the third, Mandu sitting at everyone’s feet and she charged them when she saw them, oinking happily. Hugo noticed them in part because of Mandu and because he heard their footsteps and he grinned.

“Hello, hello! It is good to finally see you today, it is almost noon after all.” He clasped his hands together. “This house is nearing completion, the other house is merely aesthetically lacking. Then the one the boys are working on may need a little help to be kept on track since they seem more focused on each other than on the task at hand.” 

“We’ll go help them in a minute, we wanted to know how you guys were doing first.”

“Oh, we are doing splendidly! Aurum was going to be built by slaves and only would have looked beautiful, not felt. These residences may not look like a masterpiece, but the heart we have put in them will make them feel like one.”

“That’s great! So you guys don’t need any help?”

“No, go help the lovers.”

Working with Benson and Troy was easy, Wolf and Troy working fast but needed help frequently because of small mistakes, while Kipo and Benson worked slower but more accurately. Wolf and Troy had an unspoken conversation of who could work hardest while Kipo and Benson chatted about many different things. 

By the end of the day, they had fully finished the frame. With the setting sun, the mutes and humans began to return home. Lily made sure the human families had what they needed for the night before leaving. Instead of going jaguar and travelling that way, Kipo decided to walk with her family. With some Timbercats and their pack, they travelled through the undergrowth. Kipo held Wolf’s hand in comfortable silence.

The last beams of sunlight set and they were in the dining hall, much brighter than it had been during the war. Yumyan hugged the kids when they came in, laughing wholeheartedly. He played songs and led cheers during dinner, the air around him light and free. They didn’t have to be stressed anymore.

Even with some humans still trying to regroup and destroy mutes, they didn’t have to worry about that at the moment. Right now it was time to rebuild, to relax, to live, to laugh, to love, to have fun and appreciate each other.

Kipo was doing all that, she was appreciating every moment she had. She was laughing, she was living, she was having fun, and she was loving others in so many different ways. Her friends, her family, and her partner. She held Wolf’s hand.

She did that frequently, but it always gave her a rush.

She didn’t let go as dinner went on, she didn’t let go as they went back to their tree, she didn’t let go as they went to bed.

The same way they always did, their foreheads pressed together under blankets whispering quiet words between each other. A pig curled in between both their legs.

Neither of them should have been alive, they had been attacked so many times, poisoned, stabbed, things that should have ended them.

Wolf survived a huge dose of venomcreeper poison, Kipo survived it as well. The difference was Kipo had been given an antidote. Wolf had toughed it out, she had thrown herself in the way, she had taken the shot for Kipo.

She had decided that the cost of her life was worth saving Kipo’s.

She was out for five days, she had thought she had died, she hadn’t been upset about that but about the fact that she thought Kipo had died as well. 

She had overcome it through something science couldn’t measure, through the love she had for the other.

Kipo had lost control of herself when she thought Wolf had died, even going fully mega and having her other half jump in. 

A sheltered girl thrown into a surface world without any knowledge of how to get by, a hardened survivor with a prejudice who hated other living beings taking to her and deciding to protect her. Growing as people together, one street smart and one person smart. Eleven and thirteen but with everything they had lived through you would assume older if you didn’t know any better.

It felt like they had known each other forever. 

How did she get so lucky?

How did she end up with the most perfect girl in the world?

Maybe she wasn’t perfect upon second glance, but beauty was in the eye of the beholder.

Kipo looked at her sleeping partner and smiled softly. She pressed a small kiss to the tip of her nose and closed her eyes, deciding to join her partner, dreaming big in the arms of someone small.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we made it. The last chapter of Something Stronger than Poison. Ending this is bittersweet, this is the first multichapter fanfiction I have ever written and finished, and the only multichapter writing I have finished in general. I'm glad I finished it, but at the same time, I'm no good at goodbyes.  
> Now what? That is the question.  
> This isn't the end of my works in the Kipo fandom, this isn't even the only work there will be in this AU of mine, or even this story. There are four chapters I'm planning on rewriting or adding more content to, I've already got ideas for a sequel and small one-shots as well. One I am debating heavily on writing is a smut one-shot for Troyson, because I always get flustered about writing smut and while they are the age of consent, I probably will and run it by a friend first.  
> This isn't my last work for Jagwolf either, this is one of my favourite ships of all time, in the top three. I have plenty of written down ideas for the future.  
> In the immediate future, however, I am changing how I write and update. I'm in high school and falling asleep in my first class isn't really the best thing ever. So, instead of writing every day, I'm going to do one-shots around twice a week, this is in total. So if I upload one Kipo one-shot and one Creek one-shot, that's it for the week. The next multichapter fic I do will be for Lumberjanes, but significantly shorter, only around ten chapters.  
> This series is part of the "fuck you hugo's alive" series which will be for this AU and I will use for most of my Kipo fics since I really do love Hugo and I refuse to accept he died. But before I write another Kipo fic I will finish the series with my family.  
> Now, this is goodbye, for now. I'm taking a short break until Saturday where there will be a new Creek one-shot for Halloween. Over the next few days, I'll also be uploading the story to Tumblr and Wattpad  
> You made it this far. Did you like it? Please, if you did, leave a comment, leave kudos, they mean the world to me. I appreciate it.  
> Thank you so much for reading this and taking this journey with me. Until next time.
> 
> EDIT: I realized I have two multichapter stories I never finished on my Wattpad account, so this is not my first but it is by far my longest and the first one I completed.


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